GREEK COURT THROWS OUT CASE AGAINST FORMER GETTY CURATOR
GREEK COURT THROWS OUT CASE AGAINST FORMER GETTY CURATOR
AVV 11-30 #721109
ATHENS, Greece (AP) â A Greek court on November 27 dismissed criminal charges against a former curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles accused of illegally obtaining a golden ancient wreath.
A three-judge panel ruled that the statue of limitations for criminal charges against Marion True, 59, expired. She still faces separate charges of illegally possessing at least a dozen antiquities found in a raid on her vacation home on the Aegean island of Paros last year.
No trial date has been set in that case, and prosecutors are still preparing formal charges.
True, who denies any wrongdoing, was accused of illegally obtaining a Fourth Century BC funerary wreath allegedly unearthed at an illegal dig in northern Greece.
It was purchased by the Getty museum in 1993 when she was antiquities curator. The wreath was returned to Greece in March and handed over to the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum in northern Greece last Friday.
True had been due to stand trial the prior week but her lawyer was granted an eight-day postponement while the court looked into his assertion that the statute of limitations on charges connected to the wreath had expired.
She did not appear in court November 27.
Under stringent Greek laws to protect antiquities, it is illegal to possess, buy, sell or unearth ancient artifacts without a permit.
True also faces charges in Italy, where she is accused of knowingly acquiring dozens of ancient artifacts that authorities maintain were stolen or unearthed illegally and smuggled out of Italy. She also denies those charges.