From the state court

Marital hell: harrowing report from a Syrian woman

The accused Syrian will have to appear at a new date.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

Since Tuesday, a 27-year-old Syrian man has been on trial at Feldkirch Regional Court for continued violence. The refugee is accused of physically abusing his young wife for months and threatening her with death.

The public prosecutor's descriptions alone are shocking. The public prosecutor accuses the refugee of slapping or punching his wife several times a week between May and December last year, kicking her in the stomach, pulling her hair and choking her. In mid-December, he allegedly held a knife to the mother of two and threatened to kill her, then the children and himself.

Defendant denies the allegations
However, the accused denied this at the trial on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. For him, the accusations were fictitious, especially as the marriage was a good one and he therefore only wanted one thing - his wife and two children back.

He does not mention that the police had already ordered him to leave. This makes the tormented Syrian woman's decision to testify against her violent husband all the more courageous. Out of fear of him, the interrogation takes place in the absence of the accused. During the questioning by Judge Theo Rümmele, the woman repeatedly bursts into tears. "After our marriage in Syria six years ago, his family exerted a lot of power over me." She was treated like a slave.

Promises not kept
Her husband came to Austria in 2022. She entered the country via Turkey two years later. Even then, she wanted to divorce him. "But he promised me he would do better. When I was here, the situation got even worse. I was just beaten," the tormented woman tells the court. She still suffers from severe stomach pains, anxiety and insomnia as a result of the abuse. "I just can't find peace."

Based on these statements, the public prosecutor extends the criminal complaint to March 11, 2025 - because the crime of grievous bodily harm is now also on the table. This means that the previously unrepresented defendant now has to hire a lawyer. A new court date has yet to be set.