French court convicts eight for stealing Banksy painting from Paris attack site

• A French court convicted eight men on Thursday of stealing and mishandling a Banksy painting paying homage to the victims of the Bataclan attack in Paris.
• Three men in their 30s who admitted to the theft in 2019 were sentenced to prison, one for four years and two for three years.
• They will be able to serve them while wearing electronic tracking bracelets rather than behind bars.

A French court convicted eight men on Thursday of stealing and mishandling a Banksy painting paying homage to the victims of the Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris in 2015.

Three men in their 30s who admitted to the theft in 2019 were sentenced to prison, one for four years and two for three years, but they will be able to serve them while wearing electronic tracking bracelets rather than behind bars.

Another man, a 41-year-old millionaire lottery winner and street art fan accused of being the mastermind of the heist was given three years in jail for handling stolen goods after judges found the main allegation unproven. His sentence will also be served with a bracelet.

Read More: Eight men are on trial for stealing Banksy from Paris attack scene

Elsewhere in the capital, the defence was making its final argument in the trial of the surviving suspects in the 2015 Paris attacks themselves, with a verdict expected on June 29.

British street artist Banksy painted his “sad girl” work on the door of the Bataclan in memory of the 90 people killed in worst of the 13 November 2015 jihadist attacks that hit several sites around the city.

Read More: Banksy raised $500 for charity by selling his paintings online

The door was stolen early on January 26, 2019, and police eventually tracked it down to an Italian farm.

Three men involved in transporting the door were sentenced to ten months in prison each, while a 58-year-old Italian man who owns the hotel where it was temporarily stored received a six-month suspended sentence.