At the beginning of March, the gendarmes had succeeded in dismantling a whole traffic of objects of worship thanks to a statue of Joan of Arc sold on Leboncoin.
This Wednesday, March 31, the Meaux gendarmerie organized an official return of more than 80 objects stolen from these churches.
Read also: Crucifixes, relics, statues ... Several cult objects stolen from churches are waiting to be returned to their owners
Most of these statues, crucifixes and relics were found in the home of a collector aged around 80, but also in two second-hand dealers.
The alleged thief, arrested at his home in Montrouge and placed under judicial supervision, as well as the three dealers will be tried on June 1, 2021 by the criminal court of Meaux.
An 80-year-old collector and two suspected second-hand dealers
For about eight months, 26 churches located across France were the target of a thief of religious objects.
The gendarmes had been alerted in November 2020 by the town hall of Cocherel, in Seine-et-Marne, owner of the village church, which had noted the disappearance of a statue of Joan of Arc.
On Wednesday March 31, the latter was returned to the town, as well as 3 other objects of worship which had been stolen within the same church.
41 religious objects were returned to their owners.
Gendarmerie of Meaux
In total, investigators were able to find 80 religious objects, but only 41 of them could be returned to their owners.
The 39 remaining objects were entrusted to the diocese of Meaux which, following the signing of an agreement with the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC), undertakes to return these objects if the owners come forward.
"
It is difficult to identify the owners of the objects, because they were stolen from small isolated churches, some of which did not have a precise inventory of their property
", explains to
Figaro
the public prosecutor of Meaux Laureline Peyreffito.
Read also: Damage and theft in churches: a threat taken seriously by the bishops
Accused of "theft of cultural property", the man had been operating since July 2020 in 9 departments of France, including in particular in the Paris region, in Gironde, Vendée, in Calvados, in Yonne, in the Landes, in the Deux- Sèvres and Orleans.
The collector and the two professionals specializing in the sale of cultural property are being prosecuted by the court for acts of concealment.
According to the Meaux prosecutor, “
the procedural elements suggest that the collector and second-hand dealers bought these objects knowingly.
Their knowledge of the fraudulent nature of the objects is not in doubt, but the tort intention will have to be judged by the court
”.
Isolated churches in small villages targeted
"
Theft from churches is a social phenomenon which has experienced a real surge in recent times, and which raises the question of the place of churches in villages
", continues the prosecutor of Meaux.
"
This is why town halls and dioceses have mobilized following this affair to ensure this heritage which, beyond worship, is also cultural, since they are valuable objects accessible free of charge to all in open churches," which makes them more vulnerable
”.
The damage was assessed at 60,000 euros by the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Goods (OCBC).
Gendarmerie of Meaux
The damage was assessed at 60,000 euros by the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC) of Nanterre, co-seized with the gendarmerie of Meaux in this case.
“
The Central Office, which is made up of police officers and gendarmes specializing in the theft of cultural property, has brought real knowledge of the art world.
Thanks to their professionalism, these objects, of which we did not necessarily know the names and the age, could be identified, listed and evaluated.
It is a great satisfaction, because we have found the suspects but also the stolen objects, thanks to the joint work of the gendarmerie with the Central Office
”, underlined the prosecutor.
Only a Stations of the Cross from a church in Yonne could not be found.
