This file photo taken on January 30, 2017 shows Vjeran
Tomic, the main suspect in the case of the 2010 theft of
five masterpieces from the Paris Modern Art Museum,
arriving to his trial at the Court house in Paris. The
courthouse will deliberate on the trial of the 2010 thefts of
five masterpieces of Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Braque
and Leger from the Paris Modern Art Museum.<br /
>BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
A thief nicknamed “Spiderman”, who snatched
five masterpieces from a top Paris museum,
was sentenced to eight years in prison on
Monday over one of the biggest art heists in
recent years.
Vjeran Tomic and two accomplices were also
jointly fined a whopping 104 million euros
($110 million) over the theft of the paintings by
Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque,
Fernand Leger and Amedeo Modigliani from
the Musee d’Art Moderne on the night of May
20, 2010.
The fine corresponds to the estimated value of
the artworks, which are still missing.
A lawyer representing the City of Paris, which
runs the museum, call their disappearance an
“unspeakable” loss to humanity.
Tomic, a 49-year-old seasoned burglar of
Croatian origin, admitted robbing the gallery,
which is home to more than 8,000 works of
20th-century art.
On his arrest he told police he was asked to
steal Leger’s “Still Life with Candlestick” from
1922, and never imagined he would be able to
grab four more.
– Security lapses –
The case revealed extraordinary security lapses
at the museum in the ritzy 16th district, on the
banks of the Seine.
The motion-detection alarms had been out of
order for two months when Tomic, who staked
out the building for six nights, slipped inside
after using acid to dislodge a window pane.
After grabbing the Leger without creating a
disturbance he went on a stealing spree, taking
Picasso’s cubist “Dove with Green Peas” from
1912 — alone worth an estimated 25 million
euros — Matisse’s “Pastoral” from 1905,
Braque’s “Olive Tree near Estaque” from 1906,
and Modigliani’s “Woman with a Fan” from
1919.
Three guards on duty failed to spot him. His
silhouette popped up only briefly on a security
camera.
The paintings were only found to be missing
from their frames when the museum reopened
the next day.
Jean-Michel Corvez, a 61-year-old antique
dealer who admitted to ordering the theft of
the Leger on behalf of an unnamed client, and
Yonathan Birn, a 40-year-old watchmaker who
admitted to hiding the paintings for a time,
were given sentences of seven and six years
respectively.
On top of their collective fine, the three men
were given individual fines of between 150,000
and 200,000 euros each.
Corvez also had his home seized and was
banned from dealing in antiques or art for five
years.
– ‘Bored with his bourgeois life’
During the trial Birn told the court he had
dumped the paintings but the court expressed
doubt over that claim, noting the lack of proof
of their destruction.
An art lover, he had admitted to becoming
enraptured with Modigliani’s “Woman with a
Fan”.
His lawyer had described him as an
impressionable man, who was bored with his
“nice little bourgeois life”.
Tomic, a master burglar, said he took five
paintings because he “liked” them.
Athletically built and 1.90 metres (six foot 2
inches) tall, he had gained his nickname by
clambering into posh Parisian apartments and
museums to steal valuable gems and works of
art.
He was spotted by a homeless man as he
roamed around the museum in the days
leading to the theft.
Police arrested him after receiving an
anonymous tip and tracking his mobile phone.
There has been a spate of art thefts in Europe
in recent years.
The most recent, in 2015, involved the theft of
five paintings worth 25 million euros by
renowned British artist Francis Bacon in
Madrid.
Spanish police arrested seven people last year
suspected of being involved in that theft.
