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Five men were found guilty on Tuesday by a German court for stealing 18th-century jewels from a Dresden museum in 2019 that were worth more than 100 million euros.
According to the German news agency dpa, they received prison sentences ranging from four years and four months to six years and three months. One of the accused was freed.
The five men, who range in age from 24 to 29, were found guilty of breaking into the Green Vault Museum in Dresden, eastern Germany, on November 25, 2019, and stealing 21 pieces of jewelry totaling more than 4,300 diamonds, with an insured value of at least 113.8 million euros ($129 million).
They were found guilty of intentionally setting fire to property, particularly aggravated arson, dangerous bodily injury, theft with a weapon, and property damage.
Just prior to the break-in, the men lit a fire to turn off the power to the street lights outside the museum. They then set fire to a car in a nearby garage before escaping to Berlin. Several months later, they were apprehended during raids in Berlin.
After the majority of the stolen jewels were returned in January, the defense, prosecution, and court reached a plea agreement.
Four defendants entered into a plea agreement and later admitted through their attorneys that they were involved in the crime. The fifth defendant also admitted guilt, but only to obtaining items like the axes used to pierce the museum display case, according to dpa.
One of the oldest museums in the world is the Green Vault. It was founded in 1723 and houses Augustus the Strong of Saxony’s treasury, which consists of about 4,000 items made of gold, gems, and other materials.
