Two men accused of looting objects from the First World War on the battlefields of Haut-Rhin were sentenced Thursday to six months in prison suspended by the Criminal Court of Colmar.
The two men, aged 49 and 47, were also sentenced to a ban on possession of a weapon for five years and a fine of 500 euros.
Intervention of deminers
Domiciled in the Haut-Rhin, this auto-entrepreneur and bodybuilder were arrested last October by investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC), attached to the central direction of the judicial police, and the gendarmes of Colmar.
During searches of their homes, a real arsenal had been discovered: 20 kilos of cartridges, 22 shells, several dozen shell casings, nine rifles and pistols, gas masks and bayonets as well as identification plates of soldiers.
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Investigators also got their hands on 12 grenades, three of which were "
potentially dangerous
" requiring the intervention of deminers.
Objects of daily life (bowls, bottles, cans, water bottles, dishes) had also been seized.
In their defense, the two men said that they did not know the legislation, admitting however to doubt that their searches were not really legal.
“
These lootings constitute a colossal loss for our cultural identity
,” Colonel Hubert Percie du Sert, head of the OCBC, told AFP.
The destruction, degradation or deterioration of the archaeological heritage is punishable by a maximum of seven years' imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros, according to the penal code.