Six Georgian nationals are standing trial in Paris this week for the theft of rare editions of Russian literary classics from some of France's most prestigious libraries. The case, which opened on Tuesday, is the latest in a series of similar thefts across Europe that investigators believe are the work of an organized criminal network.
The defendants are accused of stealing works by 19th-century authors such as Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol, valued collectively at several million euros. They face charges of criminal conspiracy and attempted theft, with some also accused of stealing cultural works on display. If convicted, they could face up to ten years in prison.
Coordinated Thefts Across Europe
The trial is part of a broader effort to address a wave of thefts that have affected libraries in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and other European countries. A joint investigation team, coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, has been established to tackle the network. According to French investigators, around 170 rare Russian works are believed to have been stolen across the continent.
In France, the thefts occurred in 2023 at the Diderot library of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Lyon, the National Library of France (BnF) in Paris, and the University Library of Languages and Civilisations (BULAC). The thieves reportedly accessed rare manuscripts under the guise of academic research, photographed and measured them, and later replaced them with near-perfect copies.
One of the defendants, identified as Mikheil Z., visited the BnF forty times between March and October 2023, requesting manuscripts by Pushkin while claiming to research democracy in 19th-century Russian literature. The library later discovered that nine works had been replaced by copies, resulting in an estimated loss of €650,000. The stolen items included eight works by Pushkin and one by Mikhail Lermontov, both prominent figures of Russian Romanticism who died in duels.
Mikheil Z. has admitted to the thefts but denied involvement with the other defendants, claiming he acted out of greed and sold the books in Russia to a buyer named “Maxim.” In June 2024, the Russian auction house Litfond listed a second edition of Pushkin's The Prisoner of the Caucasus that matched a copy stolen from the BnF. The auction house told French authorities it had documents showing the book was acquired from its owner in Russia in 2014 or 2015.
Investigating judges have suggested the thefts may be linked to a desire to repatriate Russian cultural heritage, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. None of the stolen works have been recovered, but the lawyer for the National Library of France, Alexandre de Konn, stated that the institution “has not given up hope of getting them back.” He added, “The Library remains true to its mission: to keep making heritage accessible to the public while constantly strengthening its protection.”
The trial is scheduled to run until Friday. Two of the six defendants are being tried in absentia, with arrest warrants issued for them. Two others, Mikheil Z. and Beqa T., have already been convicted and imprisoned in other countries for similar crimes and have been provisionally surrendered to French authorities. Mikheil Z. was sentenced last year in Lithuania to three years and four months in prison for the organized theft of 19th-century publications worth €606,000, while Beqa T. received a three-and-a-half-year sentence in Estonia.
