Front for the liberation of the garden gnomes
The Front for the Liberation of Garden Gnomes ( French : Front de libération des nains de jardin ; Italian MALAG ) is, according to its own statement, a "non-commercial association with the aim of liberating garden gnomes ". For this purpose, she carries out covert actions in which she steals garden gnomes from gardens and rearranges them in other places - mostly in the wild as the “natural habitat of the garden gnome”. According to German criminal law, this can constitute an act of trespassing . Depending on whether there is an intention to assassinate, there is also a (impunity) deprivation of property or theft .
historical development
The organization first appeared in France in 1996 when it stole garden gnomes from front gardens in Alençon in the Orne department . This group remained active until January 1997. The French front later split into several groups. In addition to the campaigns in France, imitators or offshoots of the organization have now also been found in neighboring countries ( Switzerland , Italy , Spain , Germany ) and in North America .
Type of "exemptions"
In some cases, the thieves leave their victims a message where they can find their garden gnomes, so in these cases there is no legal theft. In other cases there was no such news, but there were convictions for theft.
Another variant is the “ garden gnome on the move”, in which a stolen garden gnome is photographed at different locations. The images created in this way are regularly sent anonymously by post to the address of the rightful owner, so that he can follow the path of his "liberated" garden gnome. Since the garden gnome is permanently withdrawn from its rightful owner with this variant, this constitutes the offense of theft.
The stolen garden gnomes are usually found and returned to their rightful owners by the police.
The theft of the garden gnomes often meets with incomprehension among those affected.
Web links
- Front for the Liberation of Garden Gnomes (French) ( Memento from February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Front for the Liberation of Garden Gnomes (Italian) ( Memento from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Front for the Liberation of Garden Gnomes (Spanish) ( Memento from July 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ drag.ch: 101 kidnapped garden gnomes freed ( memento of the original from September 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 20min.ch: 77 dwarfs abducted from their gardens
- ↑ shortnews.de: Front for the liberation of garden gnomes active again in Switzerland
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Dungeon for Snow White
- ↑ pagesperso-orange.fr: The garden gnomes also have their "liberation front "
