Art dealer Robert Hecht (Robert E. Hecht)
Photo 2006

last week in the Roman court to the statute of limitations had closed the case against the former art dealer Robert Hecht (Robert E. Hecht), which is considered one of the key figures in the black market of ancient artifacts.

native of Baltimore, Robert Hecht, now the 92-year-old feeble old man, confined to his Paris bed, in the distant 1950s caused quite a stir in the art world began to sell to museums and private collectors are among the finest examples of ancient artifacts, Greek, Roman and Etruscan origin.

«I had no idea where these things. They could be dug up and over a hundred years, and an hour before they arrived to my hands, "- said the former dealer in a telephone interview last Thursday.

During a long career for a dealer Hecht relentlessly dragged the suspicion that his "goods" are produced from black archaeologists and place of occurrence, exported illegally. The dealer never directly denied such allegations in this case, however, has always denied his involvement in the conspiracy, art dealers, which was engaged in investigating an Italian court. These art dealers Hecht, however, reckoned to its competitors.

Closing affairs Hecht raised no point, but rather an ellipsis in large-scale investigation into the theft and export of hundreds of artifacts from Italy through an extensive network of diggers, dealers and private collectors with their subsequent sale to museums USA, Europe and other countries.

is dragged into a criminal investigation Italian courts since 2005, and on the dock in addition to Hecht during that time visited a former curator of antiquities Marion True of the Getty Museum (Marion True) and Italian Giacomo Medici dealer (Giacomo Medici).

The case against Marion True, it was also closed for the lapse in October 2010. Giacomo Medici came under the hot hand expedited judicial process: in 2004 he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Later the term was reduced to eight years. The dealer also must pay a penalty in the State EUR 10 million - the largest in the history of Italy, the penalty for such crimes.

The original prosecutor on the case, Paolo Ferri (Paolo Ferri) expressed his irritation Italian justice system, due to which the process is not managed to finish on time. In Italy, between the dates of the hearings may be months - six years in the case of Hecht court was going to just 18 times.

Ferry refutes the statements of critics, mostly American, that that in the absence of irrefutable evidence, he deliberately prolonged the case. "The evidence was enough", - says Paolo. He proposes to take at least written by hand Hecht's memoirs in which he describes in detail the work of the dealer, including the purchase of Ancient Art at the Medici and other suppliers, which in this source are called "secret diggers." In the scheme of the organization, seized one of the mediators in the illegal trade, the name of Robert Hecht indicated at the top of the pyramid of robbers and smugglers.

the collected evidence was sufficient to persuade American museums to voluntarily withdraw from their collections around a hundred antique masterpieces in any way related to Hecht, Medici and other dubious dealers and get them back in Italy. In 2007, the Getty Museum to return Italy offered 40 subjects, including the magnificent statue of Aphrodite.

American museums, convicted of complicity in the black market of ancient artifacts, now strictly regulate the process of buying new items, so that a number of acquisitions is no longer caught illegally excavated works.

Yet closing the case against Hecht said that Italy is not sufficient deterrents to prevent further looting of archaeological sites, although the Italian police and is considered one of the strongest organizations in the protection of such people. This is the opinion Paolo Ferri, retired in 2010. "The truth is that the Italian legal system is not right," - said the prosecutor.

As for Robert Hecht, He said he does not feel heavy feelings in relation to the laborious process, which, however, did not require his presence at the hearing.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, < em> AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru

Theme also read:

Getty Museum made peace with Italy;

Getty Museum returns next value in Italy;

Pompeian fresco Another return to Italy ;

stolen artifacts to Italy," surfaced "in meeting one of the leading museums of Spain ;

In Sicily, returning stolen property .