The similarities cannot go unnoticed. Not because the two men had the same profession, but because of the inability to accept that a woman is an autonomous individual

Two countries. Two police officers. Two female victims. In both cases, the perpetrator committed suicide after murdering his wife, thereby depriving society of the opportunity to see him held accountable before the courts. The recent attempted murder of a woman in Limassol reveals the depth of the gender equality problem in Cyprus. It’s a carbon copy of what happened in Greece just two weeks ago (on July 16), when the police officer who committed the crime also took his own life with his service weapon after the crime.

The similarities cannot go unnoticed. Not because the two men shared the same profession, but because their actions appear to stem from a common root: the inability to accept that a woman is an autonomous person with the right to make decisions about her own life. And all these shockingly similar details in just two weeks.

Simply put, these identical crimes clearly involve the “overbearing man’s” control and domination over the woman, the mother, the partner—the person he once loved and then turned into his own executioner. The perpetrator cannot bear the loss of the relationship or the power that the woman now wields as an independent person. And this is not because he is losing the person he loves, but because he feels he is losing control. When a woman asserts her independence, expresses a different opinion, or decides to leave the relationship, some men perceive this choice as a personal humiliation and a blow to their identity—and this is clearly where the “ego” becomes greater than anything else.

This is not merely a personal problem. It is a social one—and possibly a geographical one—because in this regard, we are much closer to the Middle East than to Europe.

Despite the significant progress made in Greece and Cyprus regarding women’s rights, deeply entrenched attitudes persist that portray men as the natural heads of the family and women as those who must conform. These attitudes may no longer be expressed openly, but they continue to be perpetuated through the family, social upbringing, and stereotypes about the “real straight man.”

The perpetrators’ reaction after the crime is also a subject of reflection. It cannot be interpreted in just one way. In many cases, it is linked to the perpetrator’s inability to accept the consequences of his actions, to the collapse of his self-image, or to the belief that, having lost control of his life, there is no continuity. In any case, suicide deprives the victims and their families of public accountability and the administration of justice through the judicial process.

The fact that in both cases the perpetrators were police officers adds yet another dimension. The status of a police officer does not explain the crime, nor does it mean that police officers are more violent than other social groups. However, these are people who wield state authority and have been trained to manage situations.

The biggest mistake would be to treat these two cases as just two more family tragedies. But that is not the case. These two tragic incidents serve as a reminder that substantive gender equality has not yet been achieved.

In a broader context, in 2026, we shouldn’t still be debating whether a woman has the right to leave a relationship without fearing for her life, or whether she has the right to defy her partner’s wishes without facing consequences! And yet, every new case of femicide proves that equality is not measured solely by laws, but primarily by attitudes.

The real challenge isn’t harsher punishment for perpetrators, but changing the culture that allows certain men to believe that losing control over their partner is a reason to takeher life.