As an ordinary eggplant, it became an occasion for litigation nine years long and worth 8 thousand euros
An Italian man who was accused of stealing eggplant nine years ago has finally been acquitted. The theft of a penny vegetable turned into a lawsuit that cost taxpayers thousands of euros.
In 2009, a 49-year-old man was caught in a private field near the city of Lecce in southern Italy with a bucket in which an eggplant lay alone. The man told the police that he went to the theft out of desperation: he had no job and no money, and the child had to be fed somehow.
But the Italian court is not our court and is not distinguished by humanity. Therefore, at first the poor guy was sentenced to five months in prison and a fine of 500 euros. Then the punishment was reduced to two months in prison and a 120 euro fine. Such a sentence did not suit the man, and he continued to sue until he reached the last instance — the Court of Cassation in Rome.
Finally, after nine years of litigation, the man was acquitted. The Court of Cassation criticized the lower instances for not taking into account the plight of the defendant and too little damage. The judges were also accused of embezzlement of public funds, because the man was too poor to pay for a lawyer, so he used the services of public defenders, which took about eight thousand euros.