AP
Eight men were convicted for stealing a Banksy piece in a French court last week, the National reported.
The piece was a painted figure on the door of the Batalcan concert hall in Paris that memorialized those who lost their lives at the club in a 2015 attack. In 2019, the door was stolen by a team of thieves who cut through the door hinges and left the scene within 10 minutes.
Investigators traced the door to a hotel in Italy by the Adriatic Sea in 2020; the men who have been convicted for orchestrating the theft were found shortly after.
Three of the men, who admitted to the theft in 2019, were given prison sentences. However, all will be able to serve their time outside of jail by wearing electronic ankle bracelets.
Another man, who was considered the mastermind of the heist, was given three years, also to be served with an ankle bracelet. The man was convicted not of theft but with handling stolen goods. Strangely, the man was a millionaire after having won the lottery some years ago.
Three other men who helped transport the door were jailed for ten months. An Italian man, who owns the hotel where the stolen work was temporarily hidden, had his license suspended for six months.
Prosecutor Valerie Cadignan told the court earlier this month that the thieves hadn’t intended to vandalize the memorial, but “being aware of the priceless value of the door were looking to make a profit” the National reported. “[They] acted like vultures, like people who steal objects without any respect for what they might represent”.
