Στε: a fine of 270,000 euros and 5 months of prison for killing puppies

State Council (στε) confirmed Fulfillment 270,000 euros And Sentence 5 months in prisonpreviously issued to a pensioner who in August 2013 killed a hoe 8 newborn puppies And tortured one more.

The judges noted that for the sake of public interest and animal protection double sanction – both criminal and administrative – does not violate The principle of proportionalityThe European Convention on Human Rights and the Principle “Ne bis in idem”which prohibits repeated punishment for the same crime.

The incident occurred in late August 2013 in LarisaWhen the neighbor noticed how a 54-year-old man beat the puppies with a hoe. He later folded them into a plastic bag, fell asleep with stones and threw the river into a dry channel. As a result 8 puppies diedand the ninth was found alive and saved.

On the same day Municipal police I put it on a man Fulfillment 270,000 euros – 30,000 for each animal. He was also arrested and brought to the court under a simplified procedure. Initially, he received 18 months of prison and a monetary penalty of 5,000 euros, but The Court of Appeal of Larisa He reduced the punishment to 5 months in prison with a three -year test term, canceling the fine.

The pensioner appealed the administrative fine, referring to the fact that he had already been punished criminally and the additional penalty violates “Ne bis in idem”. He also argued that the total amount should be not 270,000, but 30,000 euros, since this was one continued crime, and not nine separate. Additionally, he referred to the non -compliance of the fine of his income.

Administrative Court of Appeal rejected all the arguments, indicating that the fines have not only compensatory ones, but also punitive charactersince we are talking about causing pain and suffering to a creature that can feel. The court noted that the criminal punishment was too soft and did not provide the proper restraint.

In the end Council of the state agreed with the decision of the appeal and recognized a fine of 270,000 euros, emphasizing that its size was justified by the severity of the act and circumstances – The death of animals from blows by garden instrument and subsequent strangulation in the package. The court also emphasized that the financial situation of the offender cannot serve as a basis for reducing the sanction.

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