[MSN] Austrian court orders retrial of thief who stole precious Renaissance figurine.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Austrian court orders retrial of thief who stole precious Renaissance figurine 

The Associated Press 
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 
VIENNA, Austria: Austria's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the retrial of a man who carried out Austria's most spectacular art theft — the stealing in May 2003 of a €50 million (US$65.5 million) Renaissance figurine from Vienna's prestigious Art History Museum.

In September, a Vienna court sentenced Robert Mang, an alarm systems expert who said he stole the prized work as a prank, to four years in prison.

The court convicted Mang of the theft but acquitted him on a separate charge of attempted extortion after the court decided there was insufficient evidence to prove he allegedly threatened to destroy the prized work unless up to €10 million (US$13 million) in ransom was paid. Prosecutors appealed against the decision.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled the court had made a mistake and that Mang's alleged threat was an extortion attempt, the Austria Press Agency reported. The court could not immediately be reached for confirmation or more details.

The case will now be sent back to the same Vienna court that sentenced Mang last autumn, APA reported.

Police recovered the 16th-century gold-plated "Saliera," or salt cellar, by Florentine master Benvenuto Cellini in January 2006, a day after Mang turned himself in and confessed following the release of photos identifying him as the suspect.

Mang had claimed that the theft was a spontaneous prank he carried out after getting drunk at a Vienna discotheque and scaling construction scaffolding to enter the museum, where he smashed a glass case containing the work. But prosecutors said the theft was meticulously and expertly planned.

http://www.iht.com/