Three ancient gold bracelets, originating from archaeological sites in Romania but stolen by unidentified persons, were brought back to the country from Belgium on Tuesday, February 20. Romanian prosecutors and police officers took over the bracelets from the MAS museum in Antwerp.

The three bracelets date from the Bronze Age and Hallstatt period, early middle, end of the 2nd millennium BC.

According to the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PÎCCJ), the cultural assets, which are protected by law, were stolen by unidentified persons and subsequently alienated. Two of them were identified when offered for sale at a public auction in Monaco. The third was found during house searches at the residence in Belgium of the person who submitted the two bracelets to the Monte Carlo auction house for public sale.

"The Belgian judicial authorities reported on October 27, 2020, the appearance of the two bracelets in the catalog of an auction in Monte Carlo, and on November 11, 2020, the criminal investigation bodies of the judicial police within the IGPR - DIC, the Service for the Protection of the National Cultural Heritage, opened a case for the crime of qualified theft," said PÎCCJ, which took over the case on March 31, 2022.

An in-rem investigation was initially started for theft by ordinance, which was later extended to illegal export operations. Also by ordinance, it was ordered to continue the criminal prosecution against a suspect for concealment.

According to the prosecutors, evidence revealed that the three bracelets come from archaeological sites in northwestern Romania. An export certificate was thus required to take them out of the country, but the investigators say this document does not exist.

"On June 7, 2022, the PÎCCJ - Criminal Investigation Section issued the European investigation order addressed to the Belgian judicial authorities, requesting the transfer/transmission to the Romanian judicial authority […] of the material evidence (the three gold bracelets in the custody of the investigating judge at the Tribunal of First Instance of Veurne-Belgium), as well as a copy of the file pending before the investigating judge," reads the PÎCCJ press release.

The authorities put the bracelets under protective seizure. They will be kept by the National History Museum of Romania until the case is closed to be subjected to multidisciplinary expertise.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Mpublic.ro)