Court sentences Czech man to 26 months in prison for stealing pancakes during lockdown

A court in the Czech Republic has sentenced a man to 26 months in prison for shoplifting during the country’s COVID-19 lockdown, Czech media reported on Friday.

The court in Plzen sentenced the 32-year-old man without parole for stealing pancakes from a supermarket during the lockdown, the Pravo newspaper reported.

The harsh sentence is a result of the national state of emergency imposed between March 12 and May 17 to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which introduced automatic stricter legal punishments, even for petty crimes.

The man was reportedly caught in a supermarket trying to hide the pancakes in his pocket.

Three days later he had reportedly tried to smuggle 15 chocolate bars out of another store hidden under his jacket.

The man confessed to the theft.

“I was hungry and homeless, basically I just vegetated,’’ he said in court, the report said.

The man had previously been convicted for theft.