[MSN] Italy and Getty Sign Antiquities Deal. State lawyers will withdraw the civil lawsuit when the two-year-old trial of Marion True resumes Wednesday.

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Italy and Getty Sign Antiquities Deal
By ARIEL DAVID - 13 hours ago 

ROME (AP) - Italian officials said they will drop a civil lawsuit in the
trial of the J. Paul Getty Museum's former curator after the Los Angeles
institution formally signed a deal Tuesday to return 40 contested artifacts.

State lawyers will withdraw the civil lawsuit when the two-year-old trial of
Marion True resumes Wednesday. But officials said dropping of civil charges
will not stop criminal proceedings against True, who is accused of knowingly
acquiring ancient treasures that Italy maintains were stolen or unearthed
illegally and smuggled out of the country.

True denies wrongdoing, and top government lawyer Maurizio Fiorilli said the
deal signed Tuesday could work in her favor.

"True's position is certainly less serious. ... In this case, returning the
artifacts can be considered an extenuating circumstance," Fiorilli told
reporters after the deal was signed at the Culture Ministry in Rome.

Fiorilli said the civil lawsuit against True's co-defendant, American art
dealer Robert Hecht, remains because the charges against Hecht include the
alleged sale of other objects on the international market. Hecht too denies
wrongdoing.

Getty Director Michael Brand said he hopes the agreement, reached last month
after a year of negotiations, will put an end to the trial which is part of
a wider campaign by Italy to crack down on the illegal antiquities market.
Already, Italy has struck deals with two U.S. museums for the return of
ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan artifacts.

"We certainly hope, on the Getty side, that this new spirit of collaboration
will lead to the end of that case and will allow the scholar to get back to
her life, get back to her research," Brand said after signing the agreement.

All but one of the ancient treasures covered by the deal will be transferred
to Italy by year's end. The last and most prized work, a 5th century B.C.
statue of the goddess Aphrodite, will remain at the Getty until 2010.

"Long and complex negotiations end, but above all a new season of clearness
begins in the purchase trade of archaeological goods," Culture Minister
Francesco Rutelli said. "The agreement allows us to close a long discussion
with the Getty but also to set an example at an international level" for
other museums and the art market.

True was alleged to have knowingly acquired looted artifacts, including
bronze Etruscan pieces, frescoes and painted Greek vessels from Hecht and
other international antiquities dealers between the 1980s and the 1990s.

Her trial grew out of an investigation into Italian art dealer Giacomo
Medici who has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term on art trafficking
charges.

In a 1995 raid on Medici's offices in Switzerland, police found a trove of
artifacts and photos of antiquities which authorities later traced to
museums worldwide.

Italian prosecutors said the Aphrodite, which the Getty bought for $18
million in 1988, was looted from the ruins of the ancient Greek settlement
of Morgantina in Sicily. Italian law makes all antiquities found in the
country state property.

Italian authorities have signed separate deals with New York's Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for the return of 34
artifacts - including Hellenistic silverware, Etruscan vases and Roman
statues - in exchange for loans of other treasures.

Under the Getty deal, Italy will loan the Los Angeles museum other artifacts
for up to four years each. The agreement also provides for cultural
cooperation, including research projects and joint exhibitions.

Getty attorney Luis Li said that the deal includes no admission of guilt;
the museum has always denied knowingly buying illegally obtained objects.

Brand said the departure of important pieces such as the statue of Aphrodite
will leave gaps in the museum's collection, which includes about 1,200
artifacts on display. But he said Italy's long-term loans will help the
Getty cope with the losses.

"Italy has made it clear that they will help us fill the Aphrodite gap with
a work of equal significance," Brand said. "I am very sad to see her go;
also we are very excited about the sorts of objects that could come in her
place."

Rutelli declined to say which artifacts Italy will loan to the Getty as the
museum returns the disputed treasures.

Fiorilli, the government lawyer, said under the deal the Getty will receive
50 artifacts that were seized by police in raids on looters. He said it was
a symbolic gesture that shows that Italy's crackdown is balanced by an
increasing desire to share its cultural heritage with the world.

Ron Hartwig, a spokesman for the Getty Trust in Los Angeles, said three
artifacts held by the Getty are still in dispute, including an ancient
bronze statue dubbed "Victorious Youth," but the agreement provides for the
Getty and the Italian government to discuss those claims.

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