13 October 2009
A Czech court has sentenced three men to several years in prison for the theft of 824 bronze plaques commemorating Holocaust victims at the Terezin (Theresienstadt) national memorial. The three were convicted for causing more than US$ 100,000 worth of damage when they stole the plaques from the site in 2008 and sold them to a scrap dealer. Two of the vandals, who fled to London, were sentenced in absentia to 4.5 and 3.5 years in jail respectively, while the third man, who was in police custody, was sentenced to four years in prison.
The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants commended the Czech Republic for penalties meted out to the three men. Its president Sam E. Bloch said: "Vandalism against places of Holocaust martyrdom have become all-too-frequent in Europe and are especially painful to those who suffered through the horrors of that time. It is reassuring that authorities in Eastern and Central Europe recognize the critical importance of punishing those who would vandalize the sites where thousands upon thousands were murdered, and desecrate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. We are gratified that neo-Nazis, skinheads and other thugs now know that their despicable actions have consequences."
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