News Supreme Court rulings September 2016

Supreme Court: calling neighbors “animals” is a crime

A recent Supreme Court ruling (No. 35540/2016) shows that calling neighbors “animals” constitutes the crime of defamation under Article 595 of the Criminal Code.
Indeed, the Courts of legitimacy have clarified that the term “animals” used toward other people is offensive to honor, and in particular to the social reputation of the individual, an asset protected by the case in question.

Supreme Court: it is a crime to transport fresh bread in uncovered bags

The Criminal Court of Cassation, in ruling no. 35179/2016, ruled that transporting fresh, unwrapped bread inside perforated and uncovered plastic baskets constitutes the crime of “poor food preservation” under L. no. 283 of 1962, Art. 5(b).
In fact, according to the Ermellini, the concept of poor preservation can cover both the intrinsic characteristics of the product and the extrinsic methods of preservation, that is, all those situations in which the substances themselves, although they may still be perfectly genuine and healthy, are poorly preserved, and that is, prepared, packaged and offered for sale without observing those prescriptions of the law, regulations or even common experience, dictated to guarantee the good preservation of food from the point of view of sanitary hygiene and directed at preventing dangers of early alteration, contamination or intrinsic degradation of the product.

Supreme Court: displaying a fake badge is still a crime, even if the counterfeit is blatantly crude

In the recent ruling no. 34894/2016, the Supreme Court has ruled that the crime of “possession of counterfeit distinctive signs” under Article 497b of the Criminal Code is always and in every case committed by the person who impersonates a police officer by displaying a fake Police badge, even if the counterfeiting is blatantly crude.