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| Food Theft in Italy May Not Be a Crime, Court Rules | Food Theft in Italy May Not Be a Crime, Court Rules |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| ROME — Stealing food from a supermarket may not be a crime in Italy if you are homeless and hungry, the nation’s highest appeals court has ruled. | ROME — Stealing food from a supermarket may not be a crime in Italy if you are homeless and hungry, the nation’s highest appeals court has ruled. |
| In a case that has drawn comparisons to“Les Misérables,” the Supreme Court of Cassation threw out the conviction of a homeless man from Ukraine, Roman Ostriakov, who was caught trying to take 4.07 euros — about $4.70 — worth of cheese and sausage from a store in Genoa without paying for it. A trial court sentenced him in February 2015 to six months in jail and a fine of €100. | |
| “The condition of the defendant and the circumstances in which the merchandise theft took place prove that he took possession of that small amount of food in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment, acting therefore in a state of need,” and therefore the theft “does not constitute a crime,” the appellate court wrote in its decision, which was reported on Monday by the Italian news agency ANSA. | “The condition of the defendant and the circumstances in which the merchandise theft took place prove that he took possession of that small amount of food in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment, acting therefore in a state of need,” and therefore the theft “does not constitute a crime,” the appellate court wrote in its decision, which was reported on Monday by the Italian news agency ANSA. |
| The court’s decision went far beyond what the appeal in the case had sought. Valeria Fazio, the prosecutor at the Genoa court where the trial was held, said in a telephone interview that her office understood that Mr. Ostriakov had stolen only out of need, and had appealed in hopes that the court might set a more lenient sentence. | |
| But the court decided that he “doesn’t have to be punished at all,” Ms. Fazio said. | |
| The court has yet to release its full reasoning in the case, but Gherardo Colombo, a former member of the Supreme Court of Cassation, said it seemed to rely on an Italian legal doctrine: “Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur.” | |
| The term is Latin for “No one is expected to do the impossible.” | |
| Maurizio Bellacosa, a professor of criminal law at Luiss University in Italy who has often argued cases before the Court of Cassation, said that the application of that doctrine in a shoplifting case “has a certain novelty.” | Maurizio Bellacosa, a professor of criminal law at Luiss University in Italy who has often argued cases before the Court of Cassation, said that the application of that doctrine in a shoplifting case “has a certain novelty.” |
| “They rarely apply the ‘state of necessity,’ ” Mr. Bellacosa said, and when they do, it is generally in cases “like a castaway who fights with another shipwreck victim for the last raft he has to save his life.” | “They rarely apply the ‘state of necessity,’ ” Mr. Bellacosa said, and when they do, it is generally in cases “like a castaway who fights with another shipwreck victim for the last raft he has to save his life.” |
| When examining thefts by poor people, he said, “usually the court classifies these cases as smaller crimes, but crimes, as poverty is considered avoidable through the social support system.” | When examining thefts by poor people, he said, “usually the court classifies these cases as smaller crimes, but crimes, as poverty is considered avoidable through the social support system.” |
| In contrast with the American legal system, the decisions of the Court of Cassation do not necessarily create binding precedents for lower courts to follow. But Mr. Bellacosa said the decision in the Ostriakov case “is a new principle, and it might lead to a more frequent application of the state of necessity linked to poverty situations.” | In contrast with the American legal system, the decisions of the Court of Cassation do not necessarily create binding precedents for lower courts to follow. But Mr. Bellacosa said the decision in the Ostriakov case “is a new principle, and it might lead to a more frequent application of the state of necessity linked to poverty situations.” |
| The ruling quickly generated a heated response in Italy. | The ruling quickly generated a heated response in Italy. |
| “For the supreme judges, the right to survival has prevailed over the right to property,” Massimo Gramellini, an editor at La Stampa, a newspaper based in Turin, wrote in an opinion column. “In America that would be blasphemy. And here as well, some conformists will talk about a legitimation of proletarian expropriation.” | “For the supreme judges, the right to survival has prevailed over the right to property,” Massimo Gramellini, an editor at La Stampa, a newspaper based in Turin, wrote in an opinion column. “In America that would be blasphemy. And here as well, some conformists will talk about a legitimation of proletarian expropriation.” |
| In the 1970s, when Italy was rocked by violent leftist groups like the Red Brigades, radicalized youths “plundered supermarkets with impunity in the name of the working class,” but they stole “caviar and Champagne,” Mr. Gramellini added. “Now, people don’t steal to pursue an ideal, but to fill up their stomach.” | In the 1970s, when Italy was rocked by violent leftist groups like the Red Brigades, radicalized youths “plundered supermarkets with impunity in the name of the working class,” but they stole “caviar and Champagne,” Mr. Gramellini added. “Now, people don’t steal to pursue an ideal, but to fill up their stomach.” |
| Another commentator, Goffredo Buccini, writing approvingly of the decision in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, likened the current situation to the period right after World War II, when the Italian economy was in ruins. | Another commentator, Goffredo Buccini, writing approvingly of the decision in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, likened the current situation to the period right after World War II, when the Italian economy was in ruins. |
| “As the law is nothing else but the box where our living together takes shape, it was unthinkable that jurisprudence did not take reality into account,” Mr. Buccini wrote. He cited statistics from Confcommercio, a trade association, showing that thefts resulting from hunger have been on the rise in recent years. | “As the law is nothing else but the box where our living together takes shape, it was unthinkable that jurisprudence did not take reality into account,” Mr. Buccini wrote. He cited statistics from Confcommercio, a trade association, showing that thefts resulting from hunger have been on the rise in recent years. |
| Italy has managed only a fitful recovery from the financial crisis that began in 2008. According to the World Bank, gross domestic product per capita is about where it was in 2010, and the International Monetary Fund projects that the economy will grow by a sluggish 1.3 percent this year. In some Italian cities, homelessness has become more prevalent. | Italy has managed only a fitful recovery from the financial crisis that began in 2008. According to the World Bank, gross domestic product per capita is about where it was in 2010, and the International Monetary Fund projects that the economy will grow by a sluggish 1.3 percent this year. In some Italian cities, homelessness has become more prevalent. |
| Mr. Colombo, the former member of the Supreme Court of Cassation, said he believed that the decision in the Ostriakov case was correct. | |
| “Under the Italian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has a legal right to dignity,” he said in a telephone interview, emphasizing that he was he was offering only his own opinion. “If you can’t eat because you have absolutely no money, and cannot sustain yourself without taking something you don’t own, in this case, the Italian criminal law justifies this theft.” | “Under the Italian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has a legal right to dignity,” he said in a telephone interview, emphasizing that he was he was offering only his own opinion. “If you can’t eat because you have absolutely no money, and cannot sustain yourself without taking something you don’t own, in this case, the Italian criminal law justifies this theft.” |
| Mr. Ostriakov, 30, was spotted by another customer when he tried to leave the supermarket with cheese and sausage in his pocket after having only paid for some breadsticks. Mr. Colombo said it was important legally that the theft was nonviolent. | Mr. Ostriakov, 30, was spotted by another customer when he tried to leave the supermarket with cheese and sausage in his pocket after having only paid for some breadsticks. Mr. Colombo said it was important legally that the theft was nonviolent. |
| “It would have been different if he had committed a robbery,” he said. “They wouldn’t have acquitted him.” | “It would have been different if he had committed a robbery,” he said. “They wouldn’t have acquitted him.” |