A high-profile trial is under way in France after a group of activists tried to steal African museum objects from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
In France, five people risk long prison sentences after trying to steal African objects from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
The group’s leader, Congolese activist Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza, posted a video on his social media of the attempted theft, explaining that the purpose is not to steal the items but to force the French government to return the African cultural heritage to the former French colonies in Africa. they were retrieved from.
Quai Branly Museum has mainly art from former French colonies in Africa, and Diyabanza has organized similar theft attempts against museums in Marseille and in the Netherlands.
Now he and his four accomplices risk ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
President of France Emmanuel Macron has previously said that African objects in French museums should be returned to their home countries. To date, 26 of these objects have been returned, of the approximately 90,000 museum objects from African countries that are in the museums of France. Many have criticized the French government for not doing enough to return these items.