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A French court has sentenced six Georgian nationals to prison terms of up to seven years for the theft of rare Russian literary classics from prestigious libraries in France, according to RFI. The verdict, delivered overnight Friday to Saturday, brings a close to a trial that highlighted a series of audacious thefts that authorities suspect were carried out by an organised network with possible links to Russia.

The six defendants — five men and a woman — were all found guilty of criminal conspiracy with intent to commit an offence, while some were also convicted of theft of a cultural asset on display, RFI reported. The heaviest sentence was handed to Mikheil Z., a 50-year-old Georgian national, who received seven years in prison and a permanent ban from French territory once released and deported. He had previously been sentenced in Lithuania to three years and four months for similar crimes. Beqa T., 49, received a four-year sentence, on top of a three-year and six-month term previously imposed in Estonia, according to the same report.

Coverage comparison

The trial initially involved seven Georgian nationals, as reported by France 24 ahead of the proceedings. Two defendants were tried in absentia, with warrants out for their arrests; RFI noted that those two had been arrested in Georgia, which does not extradite its citizens. The remaining five were present for the trial, though the exact number of those in court varied between reports.

The case drew attention to a spate of thefts of rare Russian editions from libraries across Europe, including in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. The thefts, which included works by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Lermontov, were worth millions of euros in total, according to multiple sources.

Key claims

The following key claims have been reported:

  • The thefts in France took place in 2023 at the Diderot Library of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon, and at the National Library of France and the University Library of Languages and Civilisations in Paris.
  • Investigators said the thieves would visit libraries to consult rare works, photographing and measuring them, and later return to replace them with virtually undetectable copies. According to a report by France 24, Mikheil Z. visited the National Library of France 40 times between March and October 2023 to request access to manuscripts, mainly by Pushkin, ostensibly for research on democracy in 19th-century Russian literature.
  • The thefts led to the creation of a joint investigation team under Europol and Eurojust, which resulted in several arrests in 2024.
  • Authorities have not ruled out a political motive: some reports suggest the thefts may be linked to a desire to repatriate Russia's cultural heritage at a time when Moscow's relations with Europe have been strained over the invasion of Ukraine.

Perspectives

French investigating judges suspect the defendants were part of an organised criminal network, according to documents obtained by AFP. The motive for the thefts remains a subject of speculation, with some observers pointing to possible Russian involvement, though no direct evidence has been presented. The case has underscored the vulnerability of cultural institutions to sophisticated theft operations and has prompted calls for strengthened protections.

RFI emphasised the potential Russian connection, describing the network as having "potential links to Russia." France 24, while reporting similar details, maintained a more neutral tone, focusing on the criminal proceedings rather than geopolitical implications.