Jean-Luc Martinez, boss of the Louvre between 2013 and 2021, is contesting his indictment in a case of trafficking in Egyptian antiquities whose certificates of origin are allegedly false.
The Court of Cassation on Tuesday rejected the appeal of the former president and director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez, who contests his indictment in the multi-pronged investigation into vast trafficking in antiquities, according to a ruling consulted on Wednesday by the AFP.
The highest court of the French judiciary rejected all the arguments raised. Jean-Luc Martinez, 59, who directed the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, maintained in particular that there was no serious and consistent evidence justifying his indictment and that his custody was irregular.
He thus contested the decision of the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal which had rejected his request for nullity in February. His lawyer did not wish to speak.
Seven Egyptian coins of dubious origin in question
The former executive of the France Muséums agency, Jean-François Charnier, also indicted since 2022, had also filed an appeal. In its decision, the Court of Cassation asks the investigating chamber to re-examine the legality of his police custody. “Jean-François Charnier is delighted with this decision (…) which should lead to the cancellation of his indictment”said his lawyer, Me Corinne Hershkovitch.
The former president and director of the Louvre has been indicted since May 2022, in particular for complicity in organized gang fraud.
He is accused of having, in 2016, “had a report modified on the provenance of a stele of Tutankhamun”, sold for 8.5 million euros to the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, and to have “facilitates the false justification of origin” of this work and six other Egyptian pieces.
Suspicions of fake certificates being ignored?
Jean-Luc Martinez is suspected of having ignored alerts on suspicion of false certificates of origin for these objects. “I wish to convince that I had no knowledge of these alerts and false documents, and besides, that was not my role”he declared in the spring before the investigating judge.
In the years leading up to the inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017, “the pressure I felt was for architectural success and the quality of loans and French exhibitions”he added, dismissing any pressure from the Emirati or political authorities in France.
The Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC), responsible for investigations, is seeking to determine responsibilities in the sale of hundreds of antiquities resulting from looting in countries in the Near and Middle East made unstable by “Arab Spring”.
In this judicial investigation, at least nine people are indicted.