Norway authorises demolition of building with Picasso murals

People pass Picasso's mural art work "The Fisherman" on the government quarter's 'Y building' in Oslo, Norway on August 6, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN.

OSLO (AFP).- Norway gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for the demolition of a bomb-damaged building adorned with drawings by Spanish master painter Pablo Picasso. The government, which ruled out a further postponement to the 2014 decision to demolish the building, has said it would relocate the two Picasso murals.

Completed in 1969 in the centre of Oslo, the "Y block", named for its shape, bears drawings by Picasso sandblasted on its walls - the work of Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, who collaborated with the Spanish master painter.

Previously the home of a government ministry, the building was damaged in the deadly bomb attack carried out by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July 2011, before he went on to carry out a mass shooting on the island of Utoya, killing a combined 77 people.

In 2014, Norway decided to demolish the building for security reasons as part of a major reconstruction project, and decided to relocate the murals "The Fishermen" and "The Seagull." Anther building, "H block", which was also damaged in the blast and has three other Picasso murals, will not be destroyed.

The 2014 decision to knock down "Y block" provoked a backlash among champions of architectural heritage and the ensuing public outcry saw a delay to the demolition. Three organisations and associations announced on February 13 their intention to take the state to court and asked the government to postpone the demolition until the court had ruled on the matter.

On Wednesday, the government rejected this request, arguing that further delays would lead to financial cost as well as the postponement of the reconstruction project which has already been decided. The ministry of local government and modernisation said in a statement that the agency in charge of managing the state's real estate assets, Statsbygg, had been given the "assignment to start preparation work for the demolition of the Y block."

No starting date has been set, but postponing the implementation of the measure beyond April 1 would cost between 30 and 50 million Norwegian kroner ($3.2 million to 5.3 million or 2.9 million to 4.9 million euros) per month, according to Statsbygg. A petition launched a year ago to stop the demolition of "Y block" had gathered nearly 28,000 signatures by midday on Wednesday.

© Agence France-Presse
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Berlin court jails three over 100-kg gold coin heist

One of the defendants, Wissam R., hides his face behind a folder as he arrives for the opening of the trial over the theft of the so-called "Big Maple Leaf" golden coin from the Bode-Museum last year on January 10, 2019 at a court in Berlin. Three men linked to a notorious Berlin crime family face court from January 10, 2019, over the spectacular theft of the giant 100-kilogramme (220-pound) commemorative gold coin worth 3.75 million euros ($4.3 million). Odd ANDERSEN / AFP.

BERLIN (AFP).- A Berlin court sentenced three men to multi-year jail sentences on Thursday for the spectacular theft of a 100-kilogram (220-lb) gold coin from one of the German capital's museums.

State court judges jailed two men aged 23 and 21, who belong to a family of Arab origin notorious for ties to organised crime, for four years and six months each. A 21-year-old security guard at the museum received a sentence of three years and four months, while a fourth defendant was cleared of all charges.

Police have found no trace of the 100-kilogram (220-pound) Canadian coin since the late-night heist in March 2017 from the Bode Museum, located close to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Berlin apartment.

The "Big Maple Leaf", one of five minted in 2007, is considered the world's second-largest gold coin after the one-tonne Australian Kangaroo issued in 2012.

Prosecutors assume the nearly pure-gold treasure, which bears a profile image of Queen Elizabeth II, was either cut up, melted down or taken abroad.

The coin has a notional value of one million Canadian dollars ($750,000), but the gold itself is worth considerably more.

Police raids in July 2017 on premises in and around Berlin linked to the perpetrators' Remmo "clan" saw guns, luxury cars and more than 100,000 euros in cash confiscated. Investigators also used phone taps and GPS devices to track cars and searched more than 50 properties, the defence said at the trial.

Security camera footage of the heist shows three men wearing dark hoodies, scarves and baseball caps making their way to the museum. They broke in through a window, smashed a glass case with an axe and used a rope, wooden beam and a wheelbarrow to lift the coin onto adjacent elevated urban railway tracks before transferring to a car, said prosecutor Martina Lamb.

The Remmo family, whose patriarchs fled war-torn Lebanon in the 1980s, are considered to be one of Berlin's most notorious organised crime clans. Police last year targeted the Remmos with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of 9.3 million euros, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.

In recent years, so-called "clans" of primarily Middle Eastern origin have become a particular focus for police, politics and media in Berlin. A popular fictional TV series, "4 Blocks", has even focused on a crime family in the capital's Neukoelln district.

© Agence France-Presse
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Egypt court jails ex- Italian diplomat for smuggling artefacts

Gilded Coffin Lid for the Priest Nedjemankh (detail) Late Ptolemaic Period (150–50 B.C.) Cartonnage, gold, silver, resin, glass, wood The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 2017 Benefit Fund; Lila Acheson Wallace Gift; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Leona Sobel Education and The Camille M. Lownds Funds; and 2016 Benefit Fund, 2017 (2017.255b) Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

CAIRO (AFP).- A Cairo criminal court sentenced a former honorary Italian consul to 15 years in jail in absentia on Tuesday for smuggling antiquities out of the country, a judicial source said.

Ladislav Otakar Skakal, Italy's former honorary consul in Luxor, attempted to smuggle 21,855 artefacts from various historical eras in 2017, according to the prosecutor general. These included over 21,000 golden coins, 151 miniature figurines, five mummy masks, 11 pottery vessels, three ceramic tiles dating to the Islamic period and a wooden sarcophagus.

Italian police found the sizeable loot in a diplomatic shipping container heading from the port city of Alexandria to Salerno in Italy in 2017.

Skakal's trial, along with other accomplices, began in September last year. Prosecutors found that the antiquities were smuggled with the aid of Raouf Ghali, the brother of former Hosni Mubarak-era finance minister Youssef Ghali. A verdict is expected next month for Skakal's alleged Egyptian accomplices.

Egypt managed to retrieve the stolen antiquities in cooperation with Italian authorities in 2018. It also requested that Interpol issue a red notice against the disgraced diplomat.

Last year, a stolen golden coffin of a Pharaonic priest was unveiled in Cairo after authorities managed to retrieve it from New York.

Antiquities smuggling had thrived in the tumult that followed the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak.

In recent years, Egypt has sought to promote its archaeological heritage in a bid to revive its vital tourism sector, which has taken a battering from political turmoil after the revolution.

© Agence France-Presse
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Ten sculptures by Dali nabbed in Stockholm break in

Owner of the Couleur art gallery Peder Enstrom stands behind a police tape as an officer walks towards the gallery where exhibited Salvador Dali sculptures have been stolen by, according to the Police, “at least two thieves” who smashed the entrance window setting the alarm off at 4 a.m. on January 30, 2020, in Stockholm, Sweden. ALI LORESTANI / TT News Agency / AFP.

STOCKHOLM (AFP).- Ten sculptures by surrealist artist Salvador Dali were stolen from a Stockholm gallery in a dawn break in on Thursday, the gallery's owner told AFP.

The thieves smashed the glass door of the Couleur gallery in the upscale neighbourhood of Ostermalm in Stockholm and nabbed the sculptures, valued at between 20,000 and 50,000 euros ($22,000 to $55,000) each, before fleeing the scene in a car according to witnesses.

The stolen sculptures include bronze models of the artist's recognisable molten clocks, of which there are about 350 around the world.

They were on loan and came from a Swiss collection.

Peder Enstrom, the owner of the gallery thought there must have been several thieves because of the mess they left behind, adding that "they were probably working together".

Despite the value of the works, Enstrom said the thieves would likely struggle to cash in on their score.

"They didn't get the certificates, which is very good because that will give them some big problems trying to sell the sculptures," he said.

© Agence France-Presse
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