ピカソ作品２７１点所持の元電気工、盗品所持で有罪判決　仏裁判所

【リヨンＡＦＰ＝時事】西洋絵画の巨匠パブロ・ピカソの作品271点を自宅車庫で約40年間保管していた元電気工の男が盗品所持の罪に問われていた裁判で、仏リヨンの裁判所は19日、ピエール・ルゲネク被告（80）と妻のダニエル被告（76）に対し、執行猶予付き禁錮2年の有罪判決を言い渡した。（写真は仏リヨンの裁判所を後にするピエール・ルゲネク被告）
　１０年以上にわたる法廷闘争で、ピエール被告らは一貫してピカソの作品は贈り物としてもらったと主張していた。被告らが所持していた２７１点の中には、キュービズムの希少なコラージュ作品９点や、有名な「青の時代」に描かれた作品も含まれていた。
　一審はピエール被告らを盗品所持で有罪とし、２０１５年に執行猶予付き禁錮２年の刑を言い渡した。控訴審は２０１６年に一審判決を維持したが、最高裁に当たる破棄院は二審判決を破棄し、審理を控訴審に差し戻していた。
　ピカソの息子のクロード・ピカソ氏の代理人、ジャンジャック・ノイヤー氏は「真実の勝利だ。隠ぺいは終わりだ」と述べた。
　ノイヤー氏はピエール被告らについて、裕福な美術商に利用され、「麻薬の密輸で運び屋が担うような役割」を果たしていたとみられると指摘していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/11/21-08:42）

A French court on Tuesday confirmed the two-year suspended jail terms given to Pablo Picasso's former electrician and his wife, who hoarded 271 of the great painter's works in a garage for four decades.
The verdict by the Lyon court is the latest twist in a decade-long legal saga, which took the couple, who claim the works were a gift, all the way to France's top appeals court.
Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec were first given two-year suspended terms in 2015 after being convicted of possession of stolen goods over the huge trove of works by Picasso, including nine rare Cubist collages and a work from his famous Blue Period.
That verdict was upheld in 2016 by a higher court but then quashed by the Cour de Cassation, which ordered a retrial.
The former electrician, 80, and his wife, 76, were not in court Tuesday when they were found guilty for a third time.
It is a triumph of truth and marks the end of a cover-up, said Jean-Jacques Neuer, lawyer for Picasso's son Claude Ruiz-Picasso.
He accused Pierre Le Guennec of playing for art dealers the role that drug mules play in drug-trafficking, alleging that rich art dealers had sought to exploit the couple.
The Le Guennecs have always denied stealing the works.
At his original trial Pierre Le Guennec claimed that Picasso had presented him with the artworks towards the end of his life to reward him for his loyal service.
But he later changed his account, telling an appeal court that the works were part of a huge collection that Picasso's widow Jacqueline asked him to conceal after the artist's death in 1973.
Le Guennec said he stored more than a dozen garbage bags of unsigned works which Jacqueline later retrieved, except for one bag which she left him saying: Keep this, it's for you.
The affair came to light when Pierre Le Guennec attempted to get the works authenticated by Claude Ruiz-Picasso in 2010.
The artist's heirs promptly filed a complaint against him, triggering an investigation.
Commenting on the latest ruling, Neuer said: If you have 271 works by Picasso and you want to put them on the international market you need a certificate of authenticity.
If you see the Picasso estate and tell them these works fell from the sky or you picked them up from the bric-a-brac market, there is little chance anyone will believe you.