Romanians accused of Rotterdam art theft to go on trial
Anna Holligan reports from The Hague
Six Romanians are set to go on trial in Bucharest accused of carrying out the dramatic theft of seven famous artworks from a Dutch museum.
The masterpieces, by Picasso, Gauguin and Monet among others, were stolen in under three minutes from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum last October.
They were traced to Romania at the start of this year.
But it is feared at least some of the paintings have been burnt by the mother of one of the accused.
The remains of paint, canvas and nails consistent with those of the famous works were found in the oven of Olga Dogaru, mother of the alleged mastermind Radu Dogaru, at her home in February.
However, the experts have so far refused to say definitively whether or not the burnt remains were from the seven stolen paintings.
Mrs Dogaru is due to stand trial alongside her son and his alleged accomplices on charges of aiding and abetting a theft, the AFP news agency reports.
The works - valued at between 100m and 200m euros ($130m- $260m; £86m-£172m) - were taken from the museum through a back entrance in last October's pre-dawn heist.
The missing works included Monet's Waterloo Bridge, Picasso's Harlequin Head, Matisse's Reading Girl in White and Yellow and Lucien Freud's Woman with Eyes Closed.
It was the Netherlands' biggest art theft since 20 works disappeared from Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum in 1991.
The paintings came to light some months later when Mariana Dragu, an art expect at Romania's National Art Museum, was asked by a friend to examine some art works he was planning to buy.
She said she called the prosecutor's office when she realised she was looking at the stolen originals.
A few months later, three Romanian men were arrested on suspicion of involvement, including Radu Dogaru.
It was following her son's arrest that Mrs Dogaru allegedly burned the artworks at her home in the village of Carcaliu, in the Danube Delta region of eastern Romania.
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