Controversy in Austria over the first sentence of jail for removing food from a trash can. A man was sentenced this Tuesday to four weeks suspended prison sentence for taking food from a container in a Vienna supermarket, according to the newspaper The Standard.
Christian A., an unemployed environmental activist, was arrested on May 26 after being caught with a friend when extracted fruits, bread, eggs, sausages and other foods thrown in a trash can.
According to the verdict, both accessed the waste area of a supermarket at night and collected products that had been thrown away by the company but were still were suitable for consumption.
Collecting discarded food, a practice known in English as “garbage dumpster“, fight against waste.
Although The supermarket has not filed any complaints and the door to the garbage room was not closed, the Police intervened after being alerted by a neighbor.
The prosecution presented charges of burglary, an accusation rejected by the court considering that No force was used and no damage was caused during access to the scene.
However, the activist yes, he was convicted of attempted thefta crime punishable by 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 appreciated premeditation in theft, since both arrived by bike equipped with boxes to facilitate the trip transport of recovered food, worth 50 euros.
The affair sparked the ccritical environmental groups and food recovery organizations in Austria, who consider the sentence completely disproportionate.
Associations in favor of this practice have emphasized that recovery of discarded food should be encouraged instead of being criminalized.
The convict has already announced that he will appeal the sentence and has refused to accept any alternative agreement that would involve an admission of guilt. “For me it’s a question of principles, “I don’t think I did anything that deserves punishment,” he told the newspaper. The Standard.
The activist will not go to prison to serve his month in prison unless he commits another crime within three years.
