Icons, suspects in prison until trial

The Court left in prison the 51-year-old Gjergji Thimo, until the Prosecution will conclude with other valuable data for the investigation file.

During the session that was held behind closed doors, Thimo was defended by lawyer Qazim Gjoni, who insisted that his client made a service to the country by guarding these works and that he never had the intent to traffic them.

“This is a unjust arrest, because he was keeping the artworks at home and this action was legalized. The police and art representatives in Albania knew about this. In these conditions, there is no case of flagrancy, because he was not caught selling or trafficking them. He was at home and was taking care of those artworks, determined to put them in display when there would be a chance”, Gjoni declared.

The court gave the same measure for Arben Spaho, but his lawyer argued that the artworks found in his client’s house was related with a 20 million ALL debt.

The Prosecution suspects that the 229 icons were robbed in several churches, together with 522 paintings that belong to the medieval age, and four murals might have been stolen in Voskopoja.

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