PostedMay 17, 2022, 9:41 p.m.
An Afghan, who had strangled his wife in November 2020 in Yverdon, was tried on Tuesday for attempted murder. Seriously injured, the victim had miraculously survived the attack.
Illustrative image – District Court of La Broye and Nord Vaudois.
VQH – Paul Guinnard.
An Afghan woman, forcibly married to a man fourteen years her senior when she was 15, paid dearly for her aspirations for emancipation. Zahar* had been strangled by her jealous husband, when Baqir* realized that she was cheating on him. He was notably tried for attempted murder yesterday.
“Every time I said I wanted to separate, divorce, he told me he was going to kill me. The threats increased as I became determined to leave him. To my knowledge, all women who have made the decision to separate from their husbands in my country have died. In two sentences, Zahar, a frail woman with hair falling over her shoulders, finely made up, a bit Asian type but resolutely dressed in Western fashion with a white blouse and black stretch pants, implacably set the scene for the criminal court of the District Court of La Broye and Nord Vaudois. The decor of a morose play played in several acts, between Afghanistan, Iran, Greece and Switzerland and which might have ended in tragedy.
Raped on her wedding night
Zahar had been raped both by her husband and by tradition on her wedding night. “She was too young, she was 14-15 years old. The adults of the family were behind the door, to find out if she was a virgin. She was crying all the time and her mother was shouting for the act to be carried out the same evening so that the honor of the family would be safe”, will recognize the husband, executioner a little in spite of himself, in a society where the woman has value of object. During the twenty years of living together, the victim suffered psychological violence and non-consensual sexual relations – “When you say no to someone, he must understand it”, she will say. But, the one who gave birth to two daughters, has, over the years, acquired an awareness of the rights of women in European society, which was now hers. To the point of contesting the claims of an illiterate, diabetic, small and slender husband, with a limited IQ, according to the defense lawyer himself, Me Dario Barbosa.
As the couple were in the process of separating, Baqir overheard his wife explaining over the phone to her cousin residing in Iran that she was having an extramarital affair. Enough to literally freak out this man fed on tradition. “It’s an offense, a provocation, something intolerable for him, in his culture,” said Me Barbosa. To the point that Baqir “decided for Zahar what life she had the right to live or not, she who had always suffered the dictates that had been imposed on her”, was offended earlier Me Elodie Vilardo, lawyer for the civil party .
Expulsion?
Convinced of the overwhelming guilt of the defendant, the prosecutor Christian Maire requested a custodial sentence of 12 years and 6 months for attempted murder, attempted coercion, rape and violation of the law on narcotics and requested a deportation order. 12 years old. Me Vilardo claimed for Zahar 50,000 francs for non-pecuniary damage.
As for the defence, they did their best to try to minimize the abuses of their client, apart from the violation of the law on narcotics, Baqir’s consumption of opium not being contested. Me Barbosa pleaded grievous bodily harm, alternatively murder of passion, but dismissed the charges of attempted murder, rape and attempted coercion. Above all, the defender asked that the mandatory deportation measure be abandoned, the defendant risking his life if he returned to the country of his ancestors. Judgment will be delivered next Monday.
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