[MSN] Retrial ordered in Austrian art heist

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Retrial ordered in Austrian art heist

 VIENNA, Austria — Austria's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the retrial of a man who carried out Austria's most spectacular art heist — the May 2003 theft of a $65.5 million Renaissance figurine from Vienna's prestigious Art History Museum.

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

The court convicted Robert 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 $13 million in ransom was paid. Prosecutors appealed that decision.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Mang's alleged threat was, in fact, 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 in the fall, 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 heist was meticulously and expertly planned.

http://www.chron.com/