[MSN] Greece. Bail Set in Greece for Ex-Curator Marion True of Getty

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

January 11, 2007
Bail Set in Greece for Ex-Curator of Getty
By ANTHEE CARASSAVA

ATHENS, Jan. 10 - Appearing before an investigating magistrate and
prosecutors, Marion True, the former antiquities curator of the J. Paul
Getty Museum in Los Angeles, was ordered on Wednesday to post $19,500 in
bail pending trial on charges that she conspired to buy an ancient funerary
wreath that prosecutors say was illegally removed from Greek soil about 15
years ago.

The bail amount was set after a closed hourlong meeting at the magistrate's
office in which Ms. True submitted a 16-page defense and responded to
prosecutors' questions with the aid of her Greek lawyer. She has denied any
wrongdoing.

Last month Greece charged five people in the case, including Ms. True; two
Greeks accused of digging up the wreath in northern Greece, Georgios
Tsatalis and Georgios Kagias; L. J. Kovacevic, a Serbian national accused of
putting them in touch with a middleman; and Christoph Leon, a Swiss-based
antiquities dealer who sold the wreath to the Getty in 1993 for $1.1
million.

On Dec. 11, the Getty Museum said it had agreed to return the wreath and an
ancient marble statue to Greece, saying that "disturbing" questions had
arisen about their provenance.

That decision was hailed here as a major advance in Greece's campaign to
deter the looting and smuggling of rare artifacts. But many wondered how the
move might affect the Greek case against Ms. True, who resigned from the
Getty in 2005 and is on trial in Italy on similar charges in a separate
case.

Ms. True faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the charge of
receiving a stolen treasure. Legal experts described the bail set for Ms.
True on Wednesday as relatively modest, and the investigating magistrate,
Apostolos Zavitsanos, said after the meeting that he did not consider her
the greatest offender in the case.

"The wreath's value of over a million dollars determined the nature of
charges brought against Ms. True," he said.

"The magna culprit of the case is not Ms. True," he said, but "those facing
the stiffest punishment for looting and selling the golden wreath."

Emerging earlier from the magistrate's chambers, Ms. True and her Greek
lawyer, Yannis Yannides, would not comment on the proceedings. But Ms. True
smiled faintly and laughed, clearly relieved by the outcome.

She and her lawyers had been given about three weeks - a relatively short
time in the Greek legal system - to prepare for the meeting, underlining the
case's importance for the Greek government and judiciary.

The other suspects are expected to appear before the magistrate within a
month. A court hearing has not been scheduled, but judicial officials say
the wreath case could go to trial as early as June.

Ms. True also faces lesser charges for having at least 29 unregistered
antiquities, found at her summer villa on the Greek island of Paros during a
police raid last year. She maintains that the items were on the property
when she bought it and that she had alerted local officials to their
existence.

Greek officials have insisted that the police investigations and legal
proceedings against Ms. True are independent of their negotiations with the
Getty over disputed artifacts.

But it is obvious that the investigations are adding to the pressure on the
Getty, which has so far agreed to return four antiquities to Greece. In
July, it handed over a large grave marker it had bought in 1993 and a small
marble relief that the museum's founder, the oil magnate J. Paul Getty,
bought in 1955.

The Greek government first laid claim to the four artifacts in the
mid-1990s. But the request remained dormant until last year, when Greece,
emboldened by Italy's success in negotiating the return of 21 disputed works
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, renewed its argument that
all four items had been illegally dug up and smuggled from the country.

Italy is seeking the return of 46 antiquities from the Getty. Negotiations
have been stymied for weeks, though the museum said in November that it
would unilaterally hand over 26 of the objects demanded.

In the case of the funerary wreath, Greek prosecutors contend that the tomb
raiders initially tried to sell it directly to the Getty. The prosecutors
say they have obtained internal Getty documents showing that Ms. True
advised the museum not to buy the wreath because it was "too dangerous for
us to be involved in."

Four months later, however, she changed her mind and advised the Getty board
to purchase the item through a legitimate sale by Mr. Leon, the Swiss-based
dealer, the prosecutors say.

They further contend that the suspected tomb robbers sold the wreath to Mr.
Leon at Ms. True's suggestion to legitimize the Getty's decision to buy it.
Ms. True's Los Angeles lawyer, Harry Stang, has denied that she helped to
engineer that transaction.

http://www.nytimes.com/