Italy’s far-right education minister was accused on Tuesday of racist propaganda after falsely claiming that violence against women was the fault of immigrants, despite official data to the contrary.

Giuseppe Valditara, a member of the far-right League party of Matteo Salvini, told parliament on Monday: “Male domination no longer exists.”

He said: “The Increase in incidences of sexual violence is linked to a type of marginality and deviance that is in a way related to illegal immigration.”

The remarks during a presentation to parliament of a charity named after Giulia Cecchettin, a woman murdered by her Italian boyfriend, sparked uproar.

Cecchettin’s sister Elena, pointed out on Tuesday that the killer was “a young white Italian”.

The leader of the centrist Europa party, Riccardo Magi, said the minister’s allegations were “contradicted by all the statistics” and accused him of exploiting the event for racist purposes.

The murder of 22-year-old Cecchettin in 2023 shocked Italy and thousands took part in protests over violence against women.

Her killer, 22-year-old student Filippo Turetta, is due to be sentenced in December.

Addressing MPs, Valditara complained about people who “never try to solve problems but… think fighting male dominance is the way to address women’s issues” when this “legally no longer exists in Italy following the reform of family law in 1975”.

Cecchettin’s sister, who had been in parliament with other family members, responded: “If people listened — instead of spouting propaganda during the presentation of a foundation named after a young woman killed by a young, white, seemingly perfect Italian — thenthere wouldn’t be around 100 femicides in Italy every year.”

There have been 83 femicides so far this year, following 96 in 2023 and 106 in 2022, according to interior ministry data.

National statistics office figures show that in 2022, 94 percent of these murders were perpetrated by Italian men. (AFP: Text, Excluding Headline)