Gallerist Giorgos Tsagarakis was released with restrictive conditions after his apology to the investigating officer, with the agreement of the competent prosecutor.
Giorgos Tsagarakis was imposed the conditions of appearing at the police station of his area once a month, the ban on exiting the country, the payment of a guarantee of 50,000 euros, as well as the ban on the sale, possession, purchase and disposal of antiquities. At the same time, he is allowed to deal with paintings only if they are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
His employee, accused of accepting proceeds of crime, was released without conditions.
Criminal proceedings had been brought against him for misappropriation of ancient and newer monuments of particularly high value by profession, violation of the obligation to declare a monument, distinguished case of construction, exhibition, distribution, disposal and possession of works of art with the purpose of misleading, of particularly high value and on a continuous commercial scale, as well as for fraud with particularly large consequential damage.
According to information, of the 321 works found in his possession, only 7 were genuine.
He himself, according to what his lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos reported, declares his innocence, claiming that he did not know that the items were fake and that he would not have advertised them if he had known. His lawyer also said that there is evidence in favor of his innocence and that Tsagarakis had attempted to contact the Ephorate of Antiquities in order to show the 1745 Gospel before the police intervened.
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With information from Lifo, protothema.gr