[MSN] Russian jailed for Hermitage "theft of the century"

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Russian jailed for Hermitage "theft of the century"

By Denis Pinchuk

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian court on Thursday jailed a man for five years for stealing dozens of artworks from the world-famous Hermitage Museum in what local media have dubbed the "theft of the century."

The thefts from the museum, home to a priceless collection including works by Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet, went unnoticed for years and sparked alarm about the conditions in which the nation's art treasures are being kept.

Judges ruled that Nikolai Zavadsky, a 54-year-old history teacher, stole some 200 silver and enamel artefacts with the collusion of his wife, a long-serving curator at the museum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

He pleaded guilty to the thefts. He said before his trial that he took many of the items to pawnshops and used the cash to buy insulin for his diabetic wife.

The thefts came to light when Zavadsky's wife Larisa died from a heart attack during an audit of the collection she and her husband had been plundering.

The St. Petersburg court ruled that Zavadsky, who teaches at a city college, would also have to pay back 7.4 million roubles (146,000 pounds) to the Hermitage for the thefts.

"I implore the court to give me an opportunity to work to recompense the sum I owe to the Hermitage," Zavadsky told the court in his final statement.

The items the pair stole have been valued at $5 million (2.6 million pounds). Several have since been returned to the museum but many are still missing.

Prosecutors had demanded a six-year sentence for Zavadsky. But the court said there were mitigating circumstances: Zavadsky had acknowledged his guilt, assisted the investigation and was in poor health.

Zavadsky's lawyer Lyudmila Mikhailova said it was unclear if her client would appeal the sentence.

"We in general had expected such a sentence, although we had been asking for a suspended one, taking into account his health, age and sincere remorse," Mikhailova told reporters.

At the prosecutors' request, the court also issued a separate injunction requiring the Hermitage to boost security for its artworks.

A sharp drop in state funding and political chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union left many Russian museums in crisis. Staff entrusted to look after artworks worth huge sums on the black market were paid pittances.

After the Hermitage thefts, President Vladimir Putin ordered a nationwide audit of Russia's galleries, museums and archives to establish how many artefacts had gone missing elsewhere.

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