Olbia, woman smoking too many cigarettes at home: investigated for nuisance emissions

The charge of nuisance emission of gas, fumes, and vapors (Article 674 of the Criminal Code) was filed for an incident in an apartment on Via Primo Levi, Olbia. A woman is under investigation because, according to prosecutor Gianmarco Vargiu, cigarettes were being smoked at full strength in her home, causing a "constant, uncontrolled, and highly annoying penetration of an intolerable amount of smoke" into the neighbors' home. This is a crime that applies primarily to cases of pollution and for dust and fumes "deriving from industrial or construction activities."

But in Olbia, the problem was in an apartment building. Prosecutor Vargiu accuses a woman, represented by lawyer Pietro Pittalis, of continuously and heavily smoking cigarettes "near the veranda of the neighboring apartment." The emissions are described as massive, persistent, and harmful. According to the prosecutor, the landlady allowed her guests to engage in the same behavior she is accused of.

According to the documents, in July 2023, a child suffering from a respiratory crisis was taken to the emergency room of the Giovanni Paolo II Hospital. The prosecutor claims that smoking continued in the house on Via Levi despite "the explicit request of the 118 health workers to stop." The defense has appealed a criminal conviction, and the case will now be heard by the Tempio Tribunal judge, Adriana Grandolfo.