The court questioned witnesses in the case of the theft from the Hermitage

On Monday, the Dzerzhinsky District Court of St. Petersburg interrogated witnesses from the museum in the case of the theft of exhibits from the State Hermitage. Recall that the consideration of a criminal case against Nikolai Zavadsky Sr., accused of abduction and marketing of objects from the Hermitage and pleading guilty, the court began on January 10 .

“At the beginning of the meeting, the court interrogated five witnesses from the Hermitage. All of them are employees of the so -called“ Russian department ”, in which the keeper Larisa Zavadskaya worked, who died earlier, and whose husband Hykolai Zavadsky passes the accused in this case,” Interfax told in court.

It is expected to arrive at a court of an expert, who assessed the stolen exhibits, which will justify the amount of material damage caused by Zavadsky’s actions.

As previously reported, court hearings in the case of the theft of exhibits from the Hermitage funds at the request of the defendant Zavadsky will be held closed.

The Dzerzhinsky District Court of St. Petersburg was to consider this case in a special order and to pass the sentence on the same day, but the defendant did not agree with the amount of damage called experts of the Hermitage, and the court was forced to cancel the special procedure for consideration.

Nikolai Zavadsky was recognized as involved in the theft of 77 items from the Russian department of the Hermitage. According to art history examination, the Hermitage as a result of the theft was damaged by 14 million 813 thousand rubles, and since some of the items were returned, the amount was actually halved - to 7 million 387 thousand. However, this reduced amount of Zavadsky did not suit.

The Prosecutor General’s Office incriminates Zavadsky’s “theft” in a particularly large size (Article 158 part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), if the court pleads to guilt, the accused is threatened with imprisonment for a period of 5 to 10 years. The criminal prosecution of his wife, the keeper of the Hermitage Larisa Zavadskaya, was discontinued in connection with her death.

Recall that at the end of July, the Hermitage reported the loss of 221 exhibits from the Russian department. The estimated cost of stolen - about 130 million rubles. The disappearance of exhibits from storage of the Russian department was revealed during the planned internal audit. From that moment on, some private collectors and antiques began to return to law enforcement agencies the exhibits in the list of missing ones.

The investigation of the main criminal case continues. The necessary investigative and operational measures are carried out to establish and bring to criminal liability of all participants in the crime. The search for the rest of the collection continues: at present, 31 exhibits have been returned to the Hermitage.

On suspicion of involvement in the theft, the St. Petersburg Antikvar Maxim Shepel was delayed (he is currently a witness in the case), the husband and son of Larisa Zavadskaya, who died during the audit, and Associate Professor of St. Petersburg State University Ivan Sobolev. In relation to Larisa Zavadskaya, the criminal case was discontinued in connection with death, against Ivan Sobolev - in connection with the expiration of the statute of limitations of the occurrence of responsibility. Currently, only Nikolai Zavadsky Sr. remains in custody. Meanwhile, materials are allocated for non -established persons who may be involved in the theft.