This is Perhaps the Only Country Where It's Not a Crime to Steal Food When You Are Hungry

 

Italy's Supreme Court has ruled that stealing food should not be considered a crime if you’re homeless and hungry.

 

The latest ruling came after a homeless man was prosecuted for attempting to shoplift food – because it was the only reliable way he could eat.

 

Roman Ostriakov was living rough in the northern Italian city of Genoa in 2011. He was caught trying to steal some cheese and sausage worth 4.07 euros (£3.20) from a supermarket.

 

Ostriakov, originally from Ukraine, was found guilty of theft and sentenced to six months in jail and a handed a 100 Euro (£80) fine.

 

Following the ruling, the state prosecutor appealed the sentence on a technicality, arguing that he should not have been found guilty of theft, but rather attempted theft, because Ostriakov had been caught before he had left the supermarket premises.

 

But Italy’s Supreme Court annulled the verdict. It ruled that the man committed no crime by taking little food he needed to overcome hunger.

 

‘The condition of the accused and the circumstances in which he obtained the merchandise show that he had taken the little amount of food he needed to overcome his immediate and essential requirement for nourishment,’ it said in a written ruling.