[MSN] former curator of Los Angeles' J. Paul Getty Museum will be tried in an antiquities smuggling case next week after a prosecutor postponed her trial for eight days, court officials said Tuesday.

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Former Getty curator faces antiquities smuggling trial next week 

The Associated Press 
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 

ATHENS, Greece: A former curator of Los Angeles' J. Paul Getty Museum will
be tried in an antiquities smuggling case next week after a prosecutor
postponed her trial for eight days, court officials said Tuesday.

Marion True has been charged with illegally obtaining a 4th century B.C.
golden funerary wreath allegedly clandestinely unearthed in northern Greece
and purchased by the Getty museum in 1993 while she was antiquities curator.
The wreath was returned to Greece in March.

A prosecutor agreed to the eight-day postponement of her trial after True's
lawyer petitioned the court to throw out the smuggling charges, court
officials said. A date for the trial that was originally due to be held in
early October was set for Nov. 27.


True, who did not appear in court during Monday's hearing, has also been
charged separately with illegally possessing at least a dozen antiquities
found during a police raid on her holiday home on the Aegean island of Paros
in April 2006. She has denied all charges.

Under stringent Greek laws to protect antiquities, it is illegal to possess,
buy, sell or unearth ancient artifacts without a permit.

The former curator also faces charges in Italy, where she is accused of
knowingly acquiring dozens of ancient artifacts that authorities maintain
were stolen or unearthed illegally and smuggled out of Italy. She also
denies those charges.