Appeal goes through

Imprisonment for stolen garbage: uproar at appeal

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Anja Richter, zVg)

Environmental activist Christian A. was sentenced to four weeks in prison by the Leopoldstadt district court because he wanted to rescue food from the garbage room of a supermarket branch. On Thursday, he fought the sentence in Vienna's regional court - dozens of activists came along "out of solidarity".

A courtroom with ten seats, but five times as many guests who wanted to support Christian A. The environmental activist is appealing against his sentence of four weeks' conditional imprisonment in Vienna's Landl district court in Leopoldstadt. On May 26, he had searched the garbage cans in the garbage room of a Hofer store for food: Theft, ruled the court of first instance.

Environmental activist Christian A. in the Vienna district court.(Bild: Anja Richter)

"It was so dirty. Everything was thrown together: Edibles, batteries, plants. It never had a value of 50 euros. That's completely out of thin air," says the "food rescuer", who also criticizes the fact that witnesses he demanded were not admitted. 

That never had a value of 50 euros. That is completely made up out of thin air.

Christian A. zum Richtersenat.

Judge: "We're not in a theater here"
 When the panel of judges retires to deliberate, the supporters who had previously been sent out stream back into the courtroom, some sit down on the floor and hold up signs: "Dumpstering is not theft", for example, can be read on them.

According to A., the door to the supermarket bin room was open - the police saw it differently.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

"That's childish," says the judge on her return, astonished by the siege in courtroom 206. "More solidarity than childish," replies an activist from Seniors for Future. In the end, the group, which also has a small child with them, can be motivated to leave the courtroom again. Previously, the judge had to threaten to have the room cleared by the police. 

Now we have a second chance to prove that this is not legally theft.

Anwalt David Jodlbauer vertritt Christian A.

Relief, but no victory yet
When Ms. Rat announces that the verdict has been overturned and the case must be retried in the district court, thunderous applause and cheers break out in and outside the courtroom: "Stop clapping, we're not in a theater," sighs the chairwoman, who is visibly relieved that the turbulent hearing is over.

Activists besieged the floor of room 206 in the Landl.(Bild: Anja Richter)

Now it's back to the district court. There, even the largest courtroom will be bursting at the seams when Christian A. and his lawyer David Jodlbauer once again fight for an acquittal.