Romania has been criticised over its lack of commitment to tackling domestic violence in a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

Axar.az reports citing BBC.

The court fined the country after it failed to hold to account a man who attacked his wife eight times.

Officials went so far as to accuse the victim, Angelica Balșan, of provoking the assaults, the court noted.

Official statistics suggest most Romanians think domestic violence is normal, it said.

In certain circumstances, 60% of Romanians see it as justified, it said.

Such attitudes, which were even more deeply entrenched during the period of communist rule, are slowly beginning to shift and the government has adopted new laws to combat such abuse.

But "the overall unresponsiveness of the judicial system and the impunity enjoyed by aggressors, as found in Ms Balșan's case, indicated that there had been insufficient commitment" to enforcing them, the court noted.

It found Romania had violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment and discrimination based on gender.