James Fitton and Volker Waldmannont were arrested in March at Baghdad airport with pieces of stone in their luggage, fragments of broken pottery and ceramics. They appeared under a 2002 law regulating heritage and antiques.
Le Monde with AP and AFP
While the country seeks to open up to tourism, it is a warning that Iraq sends to any travelers. James Fitton, a 66 -year -old Briton found guilty of having tried to get out of Iraq antiquities was sentenced on Monday to fifteen years in prison by a Baghdad court, while his co -accused, Volker Waldmann, a 60 -year -old German, has been acquitted.
The sentence provided for the crime committed by James Fitton “is death by hanging”, but the court decided to “reduce the sentence to fifteen years in prison due to the advanced age of the accused” explained the judge in the verdict. Mr. Fitton’s lawyer announced that he would appeal this decision.
The two men appeared before the Al-Karkh criminal court, in Baghdad, dressed in the yellow combination of prisoners in Iraq, according to a journalist from the France-Presse agency present at the hearing. When the judge asked them if they considered themselves “guilty or not guilty of antiquity traffic”, they each have replied: “not guilty”.
law of 2002 regulating heritage and the Antiquities
James Fitton, a retired British geologist, and Volker Waldmann, Berlin psychologist, were arrested on March 20 at Baghdad airport with pieces of stone, fragments of broken pottery and ceramics in their luggage. James Fitton and Volker Waldmann were in Iraq for an organized trip and did not know each other before this excursion.
The baggage of Mr. Fitton contained ten fragments of stones, bursts of broken pottery or ceramics. Mr. Waldmann was in possession of two songs which were given to him, according to him, by his traveling companion.
At the opening of their trial, in May, the two men invoked their good faith, saying ignoring that the documents in their possession could be considered as antiques.
They appeared under a 2002 law regulating heritage and antiques, which provides until the death penalty for any person found guilty “to have intentionally out or tried to leave Iraq an antiquity” . Iraqi antiques have been looted for decades, thanks to the multiple conflicts that the country experienced, in particular the American invasion of 2003.
The judge said in his verdict that Mr. Fitton was “aware” that the site on which he picked up these fragments was “an archaeological site” and that it is “illegal” to appropriate them. He concluded that a “criminal intention” did exist, which the defense lawyer denied, Thaer Massoud. For m e massoud, this judgment is “extreme”.