Controversy in Austria over the first sentence of jail for removing food from a garbage container. A man was sentenced this Tuesday to four weeks suspended prison for taking food from a container in a Vienna supermarket, according to the newspaper Der Standard.
Christian A., an unemployed environmental activist, was arrested on May 26 after being surprised with a friend when extracted fruit, bread, eggs, sausages and other foods thrown into a garbage container.
According to the sentence, both accessed the waste area of a supermarket at night and recovered products that had been discarded by the company but were still were suitable for consumption.
The collection of discarded food, a practice known in English as “dumpstern“, fight against waste.
Although The supermarket did not file any complaint and the door to the garbage area was not closed, the Police intervened after being alerted by a neighbor.
The Prosecutor’s Office presented charges of burglary, an accusation dismissed by the court considering that No force was used nor was any damage caused when accessing the location.
However, the activist yes he was convicted of attempted robberya crime that carries up to three years in prison in Austria.
During the trial, Christian A. defended his action as an act of “food rescue” with the aim of avoiding food waste, which He used it for his own consumption and to give it to people in need.
The judge, however, argued that the accused did not recognize his responsibility and valued the premeditation in robbery, since both arrived by bicycle equipped with boxes to facilitate the transportation of rescued food, valued at 50 euros.
The case has unleashed the ccriticism from environmental groups and food recovery organizations in Austria, who consider the sentence totally disproportionate.
The associations in favor of this practice stressed that the recovery of discarded food should be encouraged instead of criminalized.
The convicted man has already announced that he will appeal the sentence and has refused to accept any alternative agreement that would involve admitting his guilt. “For me it is a question of principles, “I don’t think I’ve done anything that deserves punishment,” he told the newspaper. Der Standard.
The activist will not go to prison to serve his month in prison unless he commits another crime within three years.
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