Dish: A Lithuanian court on Monday sentenced a Georgian National to steal the rare versions of Russian literary classics, accusing him of belonging to a group behind a group of similar theft across Europe.
Mikhehil Zamtaradz was sentenced as 606,000 euros as the 19th -century publications, as part of an organized group, for theft, which has a high cultural and historical value, “Judge Mindgas Razskas told reporters in the Vilnius City District Court.
He was sentenced to three years and four months in jail.
The Georgian National was arrested in Belgium in 2023 and was later transferred to Lithuania the same year.
He is now due to being taken to France, where he is accused of similar theft.
In May 2023, he accepted the stealing of 17 books, including Alexander Puskin and Nikolai Gogol, from the Villnius University Library.
During a court hearing in April, Zamtradz said that the book theft was commissioned by a Russian employee of a Moscow auction house, according to the Lithuanian media.
He claimed that the man had also provided him with a fake ID to enter the university, as well as forgeries placed in the library instead of theft work.
Zamtradz said that he smuggled books through Belarus and paid 30,000 euros in Cryptocurrency.
The criminal said the Lithuanian prosecutors said the Lithuanian prosecutors said the Lithuanian prosecutors said the Lithuanian prosecutors worked as part of a group working in Lithuania, Poland, France, Switzerland and Georgia.
Officials also arrested two other Georgian citizens, but their cases are being tried separately.
For Criminal Justice Cooperation, the European Union Agency coordinated legal action in European countries after similar theft from libraries in France, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Switzerland in November 2023.
At least some theft books were reportedly sold in auction in Russia.
The University of Wilneyus has now implemented additional security measures to prevent equal theft, Wu Chancellor Raimunds Balasinitis in a written response to the AFP.
“After access to rare documents will be provided only after a pre -agreement with the employees,” he said.
