A man ended up in court after he was accused of offending public decency by breaking wind near police officers in Austria.
The incident happened on a street in Vienna on December 12 when the young man was standing at a cigarette vending machine while talking on the phone.
According to Austrian magazine Falter, two police officers were nearby when the man suddenly broke wind loudly.
The officers allegedly viewed the act as inappropriate and confronted him over his behaviour.
The man then started laughing as he recounted the incident to the person on the other end of the phone.
‘Unfortunately, the uniformed officer was still within earshot,’ he told Falter.
Police carried out an identity check and issued him with two fines – one for ‘offending public decency’ and another for ‘ridiculing a legitimate official action’ by laughing.
The total penalty came to €300.
The man refused to pay and challenged the fines in court.
A man ended up in court after he was accused of offending public decency by breaking wind near police officers in Austria (stock image)
He ultimately won the case after the regional administrative court ruled the act of breaking wind had been ‘involuntary’ and that no fault could be attributed to him.
Judges also found that his laughter remained within the bounds of freedom of expression.
The ruling means breaking wind in public remains legal in Austria.
This isn’t the first time someone has been fined for breaking wind in the country.
In 2020, a man in Vienna was fined €500 for breaking wind loudly in front of police – a move that the Austrian capital’s police force was at pains to defend.
The Oesterreich newspaper reported that the fine stemmed from an incident on June 5 and that the offender was fined for ‘offending public decency.’
City police wrote on Twitter that ‘of course no one is reported for accidentally `letting one go.” They added that the man had behaved ‘provocatively and uncooperatively’ during an encounter with officers that preceded the incident.
He got up from a park bench, looked at officers and ‘let go a massive intestinal wind apparently with full intent,’ they said. ‘And our colleagues don’t like to be farted at so much.’
Police noted that the decision could be appealed.
