France Victimes warns of forced suicides following intimate partner violence

Paris – 05.08.2026: Jerome Moreau, vice president and spokesperson for the victim support organization France Victimes, has drawn attention to forced suicides linked to intimate partner violence. In an interview with franceinfo, he spoke of around one thousand affected women. This refers to cases in which continued stalking by a current or former partner leads to suicide or a suicide attempt.

The currently most reliable official data support this order of magnitude, but require clarification. According to data from the Interior Ministry’s statistical service, police and gendarmerie recorded a total of 890 victims of stalking by partners or former partners involving suicide or a suicide attempt in 2023. Of these, 773, or 87 percent, were women. Moreau’s figure therefore describes a rounded scale rather than a separate official annual tally.

The category is comparatively new in France. Since August 1, 2020, Article 222-33-2-1 of the Criminal Code has treated repeated harassment by spouses, partners or former partners as a specific criminal offense. If it leads to suicide or an attempt, penalties of up to ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros may apply. The law thus recognizes psychological violence as a possible causal component of the most serious consequences of violence.

The trend in registered cases also shows that the figures must be read cautiously. There were 229 victims recorded for 2020, 684 for 2021 and already 759 for 2022. The National Observatory on Violence Against Women notes that the increase is partly due to greater awareness among security authorities of the criminal offense created in 2020. The statistics therefore measure both violence that has come to light and improved recording practices.

Intimate partner violence remains an offense in France in which victims are predominantly women. For 2024, security authorities recorded 272,400 victims of physical, psychological or sexual violence by partners or former partners; 84 percent were women. According to a victim survey, however, only around one in six adult victims files a complaint. Registered cases therefore represent only part of the actual situation.

Forced suicide must be distinguished from homicide in the strict sense, but it belongs to the same institutional context of control, intimidation and continued psychological violence. The criminal-law classification requires proof that repeated acts worsened the victim’s living conditions and impaired their mental or physical health. Establishing such a causal link is regularly challenging in investigations.

The latest figures on homicides in intimate partner relationships illustrate the gravity of this form of violence. The Interior Ministry counted 107 women killed by their partner or former partner in 2024. The group referred to by Moreau, by contrast, also includes survivors of suicide attempts and shows that the most serious consequences of intimate partner violence extend far beyond officially recorded homicides.