Status: 01/10/2023 3:00 p.m
A few weeks after the return of items looted from the spectacular art robbery in Dresden, witnesses reported that some of the treasures were in poor condition. The talks about a deal – and its conditions – were also confirmed.
In the ongoing process of stealing jewels from the Dresden Green Vault, witness statements have revealed important details about the 31 pieces of jewelery returned shortly before Christmas and the missing items. The restorer Eve Begov from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) explained during her witness hearing at the Dresden Regional Court that some objects were virtually undamaged, while others were badly damaged. She reported broken pieces, deformation and damage from moisture.
For example, the tip of the “Breast Star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle” was severed. The restorer diagnosed rust deposits and moisture ingress between the setting and the stones on the “Hutagraffe”. They could either be from storage or an attempt at cleaning. Other parts also had mechanical damage as well as scratches or rust spots. According to the restorer, individual pieces of jewelry were probably already broken into several pieces during the theft.
The tip of the “Breast Star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle” is said to have been severed after the robbery.
Image: via REUTERS
Police divers searched in vain for sword blade
Begov also commented on the pieces that are still missing. This includes the epaulette with the “Saxon White”, a diamond of almost 50 carats. The brilliant is counted among the world’s most important diamonds, said Begov.
The 31 pieces returned so far were handed over to the investigators of the special commission “Epaulette” after an agreement between the public prosecutor’s office and the defense in December last year. A chief inspector of the special commission reported a handover in the late evening of December 16 in a Berlin law firm. Even as an art layman, he immediately saw that individual parts were damaged, according to the police officer in front of the district court. The blade was also missing from a diamond-studded sword.
In this context, the trial also brought up what police divers from several federal states were looking for in vain in the Berlin shipping canal in the Neukölln district on December 25: the blade of the sword of the diamond set, of which only the handle had been returned. An area 170 meters long was searched several times, but nothing was found from the loot.
Exploratory talks since August
As the presiding judge Andreas Ziegel confirmed, the first talks between the public prosecutor’s office and defense attorneys had already been held in August 2022. The aim was to recover the historically valuable jewelry and – for the accused – to receive a reduced sentence in return. The possibility of a deal in the event of a confession by the accused has now been confirmed in court.
According to the court, the public prosecutor’s office offered a total sentence of between five and a half years and six years and three months for the adult accused who confessed, as well as up to four and a half years’ imprisonment and a prison sentence for convictions under juvenile criminal law.
However, the prerequisite is that the accused declare themselves to be planning, preparing and participating in the crimes. This had also been promised for four of the accused.
According to the judge, the initiative for the possible deal came from the oldest suspect. Judge Ziegel reported that the 29-year-old worked to ensure that the remaining loot was returned. However, the returned pieces of loot were less extensive than expected and several pieces were incomplete. Some of them were damaged due to improper storage and cleaning attempts to remove traces. The prospective penalty discount was then corrected upwards.
Diamonds and brilliants worth over 113 million euros
On November 25, 2019, pieces of jewelery with a total of 4,300 diamonds and brilliants with a total value of more than 113 million euros were stolen from the Green Vault. The slump made international headlines. In the case, six men between the ages of 23 and 29 are currently facing charges of gang theft and serious arson. Two of them are currently serving a youth sentence of several years for stealing the gold coin from the Bode Museum in Berlin in 2017.