A homeless man in Italy was stopped for stealing a small amount of food, but the Italian Supreme Court ruled that he did it out of necessity and it was not a crime. The ruling highlights the importance of compassion in times of economic hardship.
In 2011, Roman Ostriakov bought a bag of breadsticks from a supermarket in Genoa, Italy, but was stopped before he could leave. The homeless youth had not paid for a small sausage and two pieces of cheese, totaling 4.07 euros ($4.50 USD), which he had hidden in his pocket. Five years later, after a series of appeals, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Ostriakov had taken the food “in response to the immediate and essential need for nourishment”, and therefore the act did not constitute a crime.
Law, Order and Compassion:
In times of economic hardship, the court’s ruling “reminds everyone that in a civilized country not even the worst of men should die of hunger,” said an editorial in the newspaper La Stampa.
Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation examines only the application of the law and not the facts of a particular case.
The case has been compared to the story of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, as the novel’s protagonist was sentenced to a long prison term for stealing bread to feed his starving family.
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