Germany sentences five to prison for $125-million jewelry heist
BERLIN — A German court Tuesday convicted five men over the theft of 18th century jewels worth more than $100 million from a Dresden museum in 2019.
The men were given prison sentences of between four years and four months and six years and three months, German news agency DPA reported. One defendant was acquitted.
The Dresden state court ruled that the five men, aged 24 to 29, were responsible for the break-in at the eastern German city’s Green Vault museum on Nov. 25, 2019. Officials said at the time that the items taken included a large diamond brooch and a diamond epaulet.
The crime was considered one of Germany’s most brazen jewelry heists in recent history. The pieces taken had a total insured value of about $125 million.
The men were accused of starting a fire just before the break-in to cut the power supply to street lights outside the museum, and also setting fire to a car in a nearby garage before fleeing to Berlin. They were caught several months later during raids in Germany’s capital.
The court convicted them of particularly aggravated arson in combination with dangerous bodily injury, theft with weapons, damage to property and intentional arson.
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The judges who heard the case observed that some of the men had acted with “considerable criminal energy,†DPA reported. The aim was “to get rich,†the judges said.
More than 100 witnesses and 11 experts gave testimony during the trial’s main proceedings, according to the news agency.
The Green Vault is one of the world’s oldest museums. It was established in 1723 and contains the treasury of Augustus the Strong of Saxony, comprising around 4,000 objects of gold, precious stones and other materials.
In January, a plea agreement was reached by the defense, prosecution and court after most of the stolen jewels were returned.
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The plea bargain had been agreed to by four defendants, who subsequently admitted their involvement in the crime through their lawyers. The fifth defendant also confessed, but only to the procurement of objects such as the axes used to make holes in the museum display case, DPA reported.
The returned pieces do not erase the fact that the museum’s collection of complete jewelry sets “is probably destroyed forever,†Presiding Judge Andreas Ziegel said.
The state of Saxony, where Dresden is located, had claimed damages of about $97 million in court — for the pieces that were returned damaged, for those still missing and for repairs to the destroyed display cases and the museum building.
In his remarks Tuesday, Ziegel directly addressed the defendants, saying it was up to them to decide whether to continue committing crimes.
“There are things in your life that are worth living a different life for,†the judge said said, according to DPA. “It’s your choice what you do with your life.â€
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