Georgian gang convicted for substituting valuable books in French libraries
A French court has convicted six individuals from Georgia of stealing rare works of Russian literature and replacing them with copies.
Georgian gang convicted for substituting valuable books in French libraries
A French court of justice delivered its verdict overnight Friday to Saturday against six people originally from Georgia. The group, composed of five men and one woman, was found guilty of having established a criminal network aimed at seizing high-value works from public reading institutions.
The facts took place in 2023 at three sites: the ENS in Lyon, the BnF and the Bulac in Paris. The perpetrators first photographed the coveted items, then returned to exchange the originals for imitations. The total damage amounts to several million euros. Only the BnF suffered a loss estimated at 650,000 euros after the discovery of nine substitutions.
The alleged ringleader, a man in his fifties, received the maximum sentence: seven years' imprisonment and permanent expulsion from French territory. He had already been punished in Lithuania for identical offences. Two members of the group were not present at trial, as they are detained in their country of origin, which refuses extradition. Two others are already serving sentences abroad.
The organisation was not limited to France. Similar activities took place across the Rhine, in Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Europol and Eurojust coordinated the investigations that led to arrests in 2024.
The works targeted belonged to major authors of the nineteenth-century Russian literature. The public prosecution office emphasised the international dimension of this case and the heritage character of the stolen goods.
Source: Der Spiegel