Romanians arrested over Dutch art heist claim innocence; court denied the suspects bail

BUCHAREST (AFP).- Three Romanians arrested last week in connection with the theft of seven masterpieces from a Rotterdam museum, including works by Monet and Picasso, claimed their innocence in court Friday. The men, charged with conspiracy and aggravated theft, have been linked to at least two of the artworks -- a Matisse and a Gauguin -- which they allegedly tried to sell in Romania. Their defense lawyers told the court during a bail hearing Friday that they were innocent even though one of them twice visited the museum where the seven masterpieces, estimated at between 100 and 200 million euros ($135 million and $270 million), were stolen. However, the court denied the suspects bail. Eugen Darie, dressed in sweatpants and anorak, told the court he visited Rotterdam Kunsthall museum at around the time of the theft last October but never laid eyes on the stolen paintings he and his co-defendants allegedly tried to sell. "I didn't see the paintings," he said. "I only looked at bronze statues. I am innocent." Fellow suspect Radu Dogaru also told the court he had nothing to do with the heist, one of the most spectacular in the art world in the last 20 years, even though prosecutors says he was present when two of the works were offered to a Romanian businessman in the presence of an art expert. Mihai Alexandru Bitu, the third suspect, also denied involvement. His lawyer, Daniela Dede, told AFP that her client "just received a call from his co-defendant Dogaru who asked him to find a buyer for some objects. He didn't know it was these paintings." The suspects, all in their 20s, have been detained for questioning since their arrest on January 22. Under Romanian law, they can be held for 29 days. All three of them have been under investigation for violent offences in the past. Romania's police chief Petre Toba said Thursday that investigators had evidence leading them to believe that several other people had taken part in the theft. A person from Moldova is said to have been present when the paintings were offered for sale, one of the defence lawyer told AFP. Investigators also believe that an Albanian man investigated for murder in Romania may have helped the suspects in The Netherlands, sources close from the investigation told Mediafax news agency. The heist gripped the Netherlands and the art world as police apparently struggled to piece the crime together, despite putting 25 officers on the case. Dutch police released grainy security camera footage of the theft, which took place around 3:00 am. The footage showed two apparently young males entering and leaving the museum in central Rotterdam within barely 90 seconds. The works stolen include Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin", Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed".

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Stolen Matisse turns up in Britain; to be returned to Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm

LONDON (AFP).- A Matisse painting stolen 25 years ago from the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm has turned up in Britain, where a dealer had hoped to sell it on behalf of an elderly Polish client, it emerged on Monday. Henri Matisse's "Le Jardin", an oil on canvas from 1920 which is now worth about $1 million (760,000 euros), was found when art dealer Charles Roberts ran it through a global database of stolen art -- standard practice before a sale. The team at the Art Loss Register quickly identified the painting as the one stolen from the Swedish museum on May 11, 1987, when a burglar broke in with a sledgehammer and made off with the artwork in the early hours of the morning. Several attempts were made to ransom the painting or sell it back to the museum for a huge sum, according to reports at the time, but the museum refused, and the trail went cold -- until last month. Within a few days of matching the Matisse with the stolen painting on the database, a specialist had taken possession of the work and put it in his safe, where it is now awaiting delivery to the Swedish museum. Roberts, who runs Charles Fine Art in Essex, east of London, said he had been asked to sell the painting by an elderly man in Poland who had owned it since the 1990s and now wanted to raise money for his grandchildren. Given that the dealer did not know who owned the Matisse before that, Roberts ran it through the Art Loss Register to check its provenance. "I didn't anticipate hearing that it had been stolen. It came as quite a shock to find that out," Roberts told AFP. "It would have been good all round, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. As soon as I was informed of its status there was no question about doing anything but returning it." The Polish man had bought it "in good faith", Roberts said, and when he told him it was stolen and could not be sold, the man "was bewildered, taken aback, although he did say, 'So it definitely is a real one?'" The director of the Swedish museum at the time of the theft had told reporters that the painting was too well-known to sell on the open market, and this is likely why it had been missing for so long. Christopher A. Marinello, the art recovery specialist and lawyer who has locked the work in his safe, said: "Stolen artwork has no real value in the legitimate marketplace and will eventually resurface.... It's just a matter of waiting it out."

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