A ten year sentence  may await Robert Z, suspected of stealing Claude Monet’s Beach at Pourville from the National Museum in Poznan.

After a six month investigation the prosecution has forwarded an indictment to the local court.

The suspect is said to have stolen the painting in 2000 . He kept it at his home in the town of Olkusz in the south of Poland. Finger prints taken from the crime scene in the Poznan Museum match others from an earlier case in which Robert Z. was the main suspect.

The man was detained in January this year. He was placed under psychiatric observation for six weeks, which proved that he was fully conscious of his deeds, and can thus bear full responsibility.

The Monet canvass, which is worth some seven million USD, is under renovation and will be shown to the public in the autumn.

‘Beach at Pourville’ is the only painting by Claude Monet in Polish art collections. It was painted in 1882. The museum in Poznan,, bought the canvass in 1906.  (ab)