BERLIN (AP) — A German court sentenced five men Tuesday for the theft of more than 100 million euros of 18th-century jewelry from a museum in Dresden in 2019.
They received prison terms of between four years and four months and six years and three months, according to the German news agency dpa. One defendant was acquitted.
The state court in Dresden found that the five men, aged between 24 and 29, were responsible for the November 25, 2019 raid on the Green Vault, a museum in the eastern German city, and the theft of 21 pieces of jewelry that they contained more than 4,300 diamonds, with a total insured value of at least 113.8 million euros ($129 million).
They were convicted of aggravated arson combined with serious bodily injury, armed robbery, property damage, and arson.
The men set a fire just before the assault to cut off power to street lamps outside the museum and also set a car on fire in a nearby garage before fleeing to Berlin. They were captured months later in raids in Berlin.
In January an agreement was reached between the defense, the prosecution and the court after the return of most of the jewels.
The agreement was accepted by four defendants who later admitted their involvement in the crime through their lawyers. The fifth defendant also confessed, but only for having provided objects such as the axes used to poke holes in the museum display case, dpa said.
The Green Vault is one of the oldest museums in the world. It was created in 1723 and houses the treasure of Augustus the Strong of Saxony, with some 4,000 objects made of gold, precious stones and other materials.