意大利最高法院:爲生存偷竊食物無罪

Stealing food from a supermarket may not be a crime in Italy if you are homeless and hungry, the nation's highest appeals court has ruled.

在意大利，如果你無家可歸，飢腸轆轆，從超市偷食物可能不構成犯罪，意大利最高上訴法院作出了這樣的判決。

In a case that has drawn comparisons to "Les Miserables," the Supreme Court of Cassation threw out the conviction of a homeless man from Ukraine, Roman Ostriakov, who was caught trying to take 4.07 euros worth of cheese and sausage from a store in Genoa without paying for it. A trial court sentenced him in February 2015 to six months in jail and a fine of 100 euros.

在這個堪與《悲慘世界》相對比的案件中，來自烏克蘭的無家可歸男子羅曼·奧斯特里亞科夫在熱那亞一家商店被試圖偷竊價值4.07歐元的奶酪和香腸被抓到，最高上訴法院判決他不用爲此付款。2015年2月，初審法庭宣判他需爲此入獄六個月，付罰款100歐元。

"The condition of the defendant and the circumstances in which the merchandise theft took place prove that he took possession of that small amount of food in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment, acting therefore in a state of need," and therefore the theft "does not constitute a crime," the appellate court wrote in its decision, which was reported on Monday by the Italian news agency ANSA.

"被告的情況與商品偷盜發生的環境證明，他取得那些少量食物時，有對食物迫切且必要的需求，因此他的行爲是在危急狀態下進行的，"因此，這次盜竊"並不構成犯罪"，上訴法院在判決書寫道。意大利新聞機構ANSA在週一報道了這則新聞。

The court's decision went far beyond what the appeal in the case had sought. Valeria Fazio, the prosecutor at the Genoa court where the trial was held, said in a telephone interview that her office understood that Mr. Ostriakov had stolen only out of need, and had appealed in hopes that the court might set a more lenient sentence.

法庭的決定甚至超出了上訴時的訴求。出席熱那亞法庭的律師瓦萊裏婭·法齊奧在電話採訪中說，她的律所明白，奧斯特里亞科夫偷竊只是出於需要，他們在上訴時的希望是法庭能夠更加寬容地量刑。

But the court decided that he "doesn't have to be punished at all," Ms. Fazio said.

但是法庭判決他"根本不需接受懲罰，"法齊奧說。

The court has yet to release its full reasoning in the case, but Gherardo Colombo, a former member of the Supreme Court of Cassation, said it seemed to rely on an Italian legal doctrine: "Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur." The term is Latin for "No one is expected to do the impossible."

法庭尚未公佈此次判決的完整解釋，但是最高法院的前成員蓋拉爾多·科隆博說，這個判決似乎是依據一項意大利的法律原則："Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur"。這句拉丁文翻譯過來就是，"沒有人會希望做不可能的事"。

Maurizio Bellacosa, a professor of criminal law at Luiss University in Italy who has often argued cases before the Court of Cassation, said that the application of that doctrine in a shoplifting case "has a certain novelty."

意大利國際社會科學自由大學刑法教授毛裏奇奧·貝拉科薩經常討論上訴法庭中的案件，他說，在商店盜竊案件中應用這一原則"確實很新奇"。

"They rarely apply the 'state of necessity,'" Mr. Bellacosa said, and when they do, it is generally in cases "like a castaway who fights with another shipwreck victim for the last raft he has to save his life."

"他們很少應用'危急狀態'原則，"貝拉科薩說，他們應用這項原則通常是在"船難者在沉船上爲最後的救生艇打架"之類案件中。

When examining thefts by poor people, he said, "usually the court classifies these cases as smaller crimes, but crimes, as poverty is considered avoidable through the social support system."

至於窮人盜竊，他說，"通常，法庭會把這類案件歸爲較輕的罪行，但依然是罪行，因爲赤貧被認爲是可以通過社會援助系統避免的。"

In contrast with the American legal system, the decisions of the Court of Cassation do not necessarily create binding precedents for lower courts to follow. But Mr. Bellacosa said the decision in the Ostriakov case "is a new principle, and it might lead to a more frequent application of the state of necessity linked to poverty situations."

與美國司法系統對照，意大利上訴法庭的判決並不一定構成下級法院必須遵守的判例。但是貝拉科薩說，奧斯特里亞科夫案的判決"是一個新原則，可能會導致危急狀態原則更經常地被應用在同貧窮有關的案件中。"

The ruling quickly generated a heated response in Italy.

這項判決很快在意大利引發了激烈的反響。

"For the supreme judges, the right to survival has prevailed over the right to property," Massimo Gramellini, an editor at La Stampa, a newspaper based in Turin, wrote in an opinion column. "In America that would be blasphemy. And here as well, some conformists will talk about a legitimation of proletarian expropriation."

"對於最高法院法官來說，生存權高於物權，"都靈報紙《新聞報》編輯馬西莫·格拉梅利尼在報紙的觀點欄目中寫道。"如果在美國，這簡直就是一種褻瀆神聖的行爲。在這裏也是一樣，有些墨守成規的人會說，這是把無產階級徵收他人財物的行爲合法化。"

In the 1970s, when Italy was rocked by violent leftist groups like the Red Brigades, radicalized youths "plundered supermarkets with impunity in the name of the working class," but they stole "caviar and Champagne," Mr. Gramellini added. "Now, people don't steal to pursue an ideal, but to fill up their stomach."

20世紀70年代，"紅旅"等暴力左派團體令意大利陷入動盪，激進的年輕人"在工人階級的名義下洗劫超市，認爲此舉無罪"，但他們卻偷竊"魚子醬和香檳"，格拉梅利尼說。"現在，人們不是爲理想而偷竊，而是爲了填飽肚子。"

Another commentator, Goffredo Buccini, writing approvingly of the decision in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, likened the current situation to the period right after World War II, when the Italian economy was in ruins.

另一位評論者戈弗雷多·布奇尼在意大利每日發行的《晚郵報》上發表文章，讚許這個判決，他把目前的形勢同"二戰"後的時期聯繫起來，當時意大利的經濟已經徹底崩潰。

"As the law is nothing else but the box where our living together takes shape, it was unthinkable that jurisprudence did not take reality into account," Mr. Buccini wrote. He cited statistics from Confcommercio, a trade association, showing that thefts resulting from hunger have been on the rise in recent years.

"法律無非是一個箱子，是由我們的生活共同塑造而成，無法想象法理學不考慮現實狀況，"布奇尼寫道。他引述貿易團體Confcommercio的數據，表明近年來，因飢餓引發的盜竊案件正在逐步上升。

Italy has managed only a fitful recovery from the financial crisis that began in 2008. According to the World Bank, gross domestic product per capita is about where it was in 2010, and the International Monetary Fund projects that the economy will grow by a sluggish 1.3 percent this year. In some Italian cities, homelessness has become more prevalent.

意大利正在從2008年開始的金融危機中恢復過來，不過並不穩定。根據世界銀行組織，目前意大利的國內人均總產值相當於2010年的水平；國際貨幣基金組織預測，意大利的經濟今年會緩慢地增長1.3%。在若干意大利城市裏，無家可歸的人愈來愈多。