[MSN] A Norwegian court will Tuesday give its verdict against six men accused over the spectacular gunpoint theft of Edvard Munch's masterpiece "The Scream, " which is still missing nearly two years later.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Verdict due in 'Scream' artwork heist
May 1, 2006

A Norwegian court will Tuesday give its verdict against six men accused over
the spectacular gunpoint theft of Edvard Munch's masterpiece "The Scream,"
which is still missing nearly two years later.

The six face up to 11 years in jail as well as compensation demands of 114
million dollars (94 million euros) from authorities over the loss of the
work and another Munch painting, "Madonna."

All have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the central prosecution theory, the paintings were stolen to
order on behalf of a gang responsible for an armed bank robbery a few months
earlier in Stavanger, in the southwest of the country.

Prosecutors believe the gang ordered the heist from Oslo's Munch Museum to
divert police resources away from the investigation into the bank robbery,
in which a policeman was killed.

"The heft of 'The Scream' was probably committed to distract the attention
of the investigators," state prosecutor Terje Nyboe said.

"We are not working on any other theory."

On August 22, 2004, two armed, hooded men stormed into the Munch Museum and
threatened a member of staff with a gun as stunned tourists looked on.

They then made off with "The Scream" and "Madonna" in a stolen getaway car
driven by an accomplice.

Although the paintings are believed too well-known to be sold on the open
art market, their fate remains a mystery despite an international search.

Munch (1863-1944) made several versions of the artworks which together are
believed to be worth as much as 100 million dollars (83 million euros).

Regarded by many as Munch's most important work, the seminal expressionist
painting with its iconic open-mouthed scream, is said by critics to
symbolize modern man suffering an attack of existential angst.

Prosecutors called for the stiffest sentence of 11 years for Bjoern Hoen,
accused of masterminding the robbery, and 10 years for the suspected getaway
driver Petter Tharaldsen.

Petter Rosenvinge, who allegedly supplied the car, faces nine years, while
Stian Skjold, one of the two alleged robbers -- the other remains at large
-- faces eight years in jail.

Prosecutors have demanded lesser sentences of four years for Thomas Nataas
for receiving stolen goods, and three for Morten Hugo Johansen for playing a
minor role in the heist.

In the absence of forensic evidence on the works, much of the prosecution
case was built on telephone surveillance of the suspects -- although lawyers
for two of them have lodged complaints that it was illegally obtained.

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