Deadly System Errors: Deaths of Úrsula and Bárbara Could have been Prevented

This report was originally posted in German. To read the complete article, click here.

Between January and August 2021, 13 percent of femicides in Argentina were committed by police officers or ex-policemen. As part of their research project, photographer Sarah Pabst and journalist Karen Naundorf documented several cases. They all had one thing in common: They could have been prevented if institutions had acted faster or acted at all. For the report for the Swiss public TV station SRF, the focus was on two cases: Those of Úrsula Bahillo and Bárbara Zabala, both stabbed by their ex-boyfriends, who were both police officers. And both women had previously filed charges.

The television report showed how the women's parents are fighting for something to change in Argentina: Úrsula's parents want to sue everyone who could have prevented the murder. Bárbara's father has drafted a legislative project for which he is currently collecting signatures. But the report also showed that there are self-critical voices within the police and the judiciary.

For the report, the team was able to attend a workshop designed to sensitize police officers to the issue of violence against women — and it also addressed what to do when the aggressor is a police officer himself. Will this change anything in a country where the society — and accordingly the institutions — are characterized by machismo? The task is enormous.

The TV report was broadcast as part of the news program 10vor10. Additionally, SRF posted a multimedia report on its website (video, text and photos) and a social media video (SRF News App, Instagram).

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