Spain announces new measures to combat domestic violence

The Spanish government has announced new measures to combat domestic violence following reports of an alarming rise of deaths related to marital abuse.

The measures include more powers for the police, heavier penalties, and rapid action against the perpetrators of violence.

More than sixty Spanish women were killed by their husbands in the past year, with another nineteen-thousand reporting attacks by their partners.

One case which sparked a national outcry involved a sixty-year-old woman who was burnt alive by her husband last monthafter denouncing him on television for repeatedly abusing her.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service