The court confirmed the charge of trading in antiquities against the ex-director of the Louvre
The French Court of Appeal confirmed the charges against the former president and director of the Paris Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez, of involvement in the illegal trade in antiquities. Martinez was previously charged in May 2022. In the spring of last year, Martinez, who headed one of the most famous museums in Paris from 2013 to 2021, was accused of “participation in organized fraud”, money laundering and “facilitating” the illegal trade in long-wanted artifacts, reports artnews. French authorities suspect the smugglers and their accomplices were selling the art to museums and galleries around the world, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi. A former colleague of Martinez, curator and archaeologist Jean-Francois Charnier, has also been charged with involvement in illegal operations. Also in May 2022, two former colleagues of Martinez from the department of Egyptian antiquities of the Louvre were taken into custody. But they were soon released without charge. Jean-Luc Martinez headed the Louvre from 2013 to 2021. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) The accusations against Martinez and Charnier have stunned the art community in Paris and beyond. After all, currently France’s official ambassador for international cooperation on cultural heritage issues, Martinez has dedicated his career to preserving art in conflict zones and was the author of a report on new strategies to curb looting that France submitted to UNESCO. In the spring of last year, the French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine wrote that Martinez was allegedly suspected of turning a blind eye to forged certificates of origin for Egyptian antiquities. These exhibits, including a granite slab depicting Tutankhamun, were sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2016 for tens of millions of euros. At that time, as the head of the Louvre, Martínez headed the government commission whose approval was required for the acquisition of objects for the museum. In November 2022, the prosecutor, having studied the evidence against the ex-director of the Louvre for the second time, asked to drop the charges. However, the Court of Appeals ultimately upheld the charges against Martinez. His lawyer called such a decision of the court “unfounded”. The mass media expect the museum’s curator to file an appeal. Read also: The Ministry of Culture and NAZK will deal with the prevention of trade in art looted by the occupiers
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