Georgian convicted of stealing books from Vilnius University, to be handed over to France

VILNIUS - Georgian national Mikheil Zamtaradze was on Monday sentenced to five years in prison for stealing rare and valuable books from the Vilnius University (VU) Library, but the term was reduced to three years and four months because he had admitted to the crime.

The defendant attended the hearing remotely from a Vilnius prison.

"Zamtaradze has been convicted for stealing 19th-century books of significant cultural and historical value, worth 606,000 euros, while acting as part of an organized group," Judge Mindaugas Razanskas of the Vilnius District Court said.

According to the case file, two of Zamtaradze's accomplices visited the VU Library before the theft, likely to scout the site. One of them is currently serving a prison sentence in Latvia for book theft.

The court upheld VU's civil claim and ordered Zamtaradze to pay 606,000 euros in damages.

Some of the books were taken by Zamtaradze, who posed as a researcher named Mikhail Zavadsky, and never returned. He swapped a dozen others with pre-prepared forgeries. The court ordered the destruction of these counterfeit copies.

During the trial, the defendant disputed the value of the stolen books, claiming they were worth about 120,000 euros. However, the court fully upheld the university's claim.

Zamtaradze has been held in custody in Lithuania since December 2023, and this time will count toward his sentence. He was arrested in Belgium and spent two months in detention there before being extradited to Lithuania.

Razanskas said the convict will soon be handed over to France, where he is suspected of similar thefts. He will be able to request that the time he spent in custody in Belgium be counted towards his sentence.

Zamtaradze said he sold the stolen books to a buyer in Moscow for 30,000 US dollars.

According to the case file, the man came to Lithuania in 2023 as part of an organized group operating in Lithuania, Poland, France, Switzerland and Georgia.

He posed as a researcher and presented a falsified document allegedly confirming his credentials to VU Library staff. This allowed him to order books of significant historical and cultural value from the Rare Readings and Professors' Reading Rooms.

The case file shows that he stole 17 books, including works by Russian writers Ivan Krylov, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov and Nikolai Gogol. Twelve of these were replaced with forgeries sent to him by the buyer in Moscow.