Court Rules Food Theft ‘not a Crime’ If Hungry
Homeless man in Paris. Image courtesy of Eric Pouhier, via Wikipedia, License CC BY-SA 2.5.
An Italian court overturned a theft conviction against Roman Ostriakov after he stole cheese and sausages worth $4.50 (€4.07; £3) from a supermarket. Ostriakov, a homeless man of Ukrainian background, had taken the food “in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment”, the court decided.