The theft in January 2019 of a Bataclan door, decorated with a drawing attributed to the artist Banksy in tribute to the victims of the attacks of November 13, had caused a great stir.
The eight men suspected are returned to justice either for theft or for having transported the work to Italy.
To discover
Discover the “Best of the Goncourt Prize” collection
Read alsoItaly returns to France a Banksy stolen from the Bataclan
At the end of her investigations, an investigating judge at the Paris court signed an order for the remand of the eight suspects to the criminal court on March 2, a judicial source told AFP on Sunday.
Read also Banksy graffiti stolen from the Bataclan: an original stencil by the artist offered to help the police
Three are dismissed for aggravated theft and five for concealment of aggravated theft.
All are now free in this case: five have been placed under judicial control pending trial, the date of which has not yet been set, said this source.
On the night of January 25 to 26, 2019 at 4 a.m., three men, masks on their faces, cut out the back door of the Parisian theater in a few minutes using electric grinders connected to a generator.
They then flee in a van with hidden license plates.
On this metal door, the street artist Banksy painted in 2018 with stencil and white paint
The sad young girl
(the sad young girl) in tribute to the 90 people killed in the jihadist attack of November 13, 2015.
The Parisian judicial police are put on the trail of the commando thanks to information from the gendarmes of Isère in November 2019. They arrested three men in their thirties suspected of having robbed a DIY store, a few days before Banksy's Door Robbery.
Their phones reveal that they were together in Paris the night of the theft of the door and, among the stolen objects figure thermal grinders and generators.
After several months of investigations, the investigators manage to trace the course of Banksy's work.
First transported to Isère, the door was taken the next day to the Var and then transferred to a hotel in Tortoreto, in Italian Abruzzo.
Who gave the order to steal the Banksy?
It was in a farm in Sant'Omero, about fifteen kilometers away, that she was finally discovered during an operation by French police and Italian carabinieri on June 10, 2020.
A few days later, suspects were arrested in Isère, Haute-Savoie, Var, Rhône and Puy-de-Dôme.
One of them fled and will be arrested in March 2021. The theft was "
Meticulously prepared
", describes the investigating judge in her order for dismissal, consulted by AFP.
The magistrate nevertheless abandoned the qualification of "
organized gang
" and requalified the facts as "
theft and concealment of aggravated theft
".
Suspects have named as sponsor Mehdi Meftah, the creator of the luxury T-shirt brand "
BL1.D
", whose signature is a real 18-carat gold ingot sewn on the neckline.
Living in the Var, he won a large sum of money in the lottery.
During his hearings, this father, 41 years old today, who "
knew perfectly the value of the works of Banksy
", notes the judge.
If he admitted having seen the work during a stay in Paris, he nevertheless disputes having ordered its theft.
Mehdi Meftah claims to have been put "
in front of a fait accompli
".
"
You crazy, what do you want me to give a damn about your thing?"
“, he assures having answered a sidekick who presented him with the door.
Contacted by AFP, his lawyer could not be reached.
His version was confirmed by Kevin G., who admitted the door was stolen.
"
He wanted to try to resell it and thought that Mehdi Meftah, a lover of street art and rich, was going to recover it
", summarizes the magistrate.
Returned to France by the Italian authorities, the door of the Bataclan was returned to the owner of the hall in March 2021.