CNN
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Five men have been sentenced to several years in prison for their role in a $123 million heist that captured the world’s attention for its brazenness, public broadcaster MDR reported Tuesday.
Most of the defendants involved received lighter sentences of up to six years in prison because they had partially confessed to the crimes following a legal “deal” and some of the taxes were returned. A sixth defendant was acquitted.
The gang broke into the historic Green Vault in Dresden on 25 November 2019. CCTV footage showed two masked thieves smashing the glass and grabbing 21 diamond-encrusted artefacts.
The vault contained an astonishing collection of historic jewelery and precious ornaments – from glittering bowls cut from crystal and agate to bejeweled figurines and goblets made from gilded ostrich eggs.
One of the most famous pieces in the collection, a 41-carat green diamond known as the Dresden Green, was not in the museum at the time, as it was on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Footage released by Saxony police showed two people wearing dark clothing moving quickly through the gallery using flashlights. One of them then uses an ax to break the glass – the video shows that it takes the perpetrator at least nine blows before the glass breaks. A nearby electrical fire knocked out the street lights in the area surrounding the robbery.
In minutes, some of the world’s most valuable historical jewels had disappeared. Only some of the loot has since been found.
The director of Dresden’s state art collection, Marion Ackermann, said their material value does not even begin to reflect their “incalculable” historical and cultural significance.
Almost all of the stolen artifacts were made under Frederick Augustus III, the last Elector of Saxony, who later became known as Frederick Augustus I, the first King of Saxony.
They included a 1780s hat buckle decorated with 15 large and more than 100 small diamonds, as well as a 96-centimeter (38-inch) sword and a scabbard or scabbard, which together contained more than 800 diamonds.
Sebastian Kahnert/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
A defendant is brought to the courtroom on May 16, 2023 in Dresden, before the verdict was handed down.
The judges of the Dresden Regional Court handed down several years in prison to the five defendants who were convicted.
According to MDR, Rabieh Remo, one of the main perpetrators, must serve six years and two months in prison. His accomplice, Wissam Remmo, got six years and three months, while Bashir Remmo was sentenced to five years and 10 months. Another participant in the crime was sentenced to four years and four months in prison under the Youth Criminal Code.
The four defendants had made confessions and returned part of the loot. A fifth defendant was sentenced to five years in youth prison – including a previous conviction. The 24-year-old denied his involvement in the break-in until the end. He claimed to have participated means to commit the crime, such as the axes.
