An Ungheni man was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing his long-term girlfriend after years of abuse. A month after a court-issued restraining order had prohibited him from approaching the woman, the abuser broke into her house and beat her to death with a metal rod.

Asked by IPN if anyone was punished for not enforcing the restraining order, Eduard Florea, the prosecutor that handled the case, said it was impossible to deploy a police officer to guard the victim’s home.

But Ion Oboroceanu, of the Causeni Law Center NGO, a former prosecutor himself, says the police and the local authorities had a direct duty to make sure the restraining order was respected. The community multidisciplinary team also acted inadequately. “Domestic violence victims don’t need orders for the sake of orders. They need real protection and support”, says Ion Oboroceanu.

The human rights activist says that before even sending the case to court the police have an obligation to take all the measures and ensure that the protective order, when it’s offered, doesn’t remain on paper only.