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Congo activist fined for seizing Paris museum artefact

Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza grabbed a 19th Century Chadian wooden funerary post from the Quai Branly museum in June in a protest that was live-streamed.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

An activist has been fined €1,000 (£901) for removing an African artefact from a Paris museum in protest at France's colonial-era looting of art, reports the BBC.

Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza grabbed a 19th Century Chadian wooden funerary post from the Quai Branly museum in June in a protest that was live-streamed.

He said he had "come to claim back the stolen property of Africa".

Fining him for aggravated robbery, the judge said he wanted to "discourage" similar stunts.

"You have other ways of drawing the attention of politicians and the public" to the issue of colonial cultural theft, he said.

Three other activists who joined Diyabanza at the museum received suspended fines of €250, €750, and €1,000, AFP news agency reports. A fourth was cleared of the charges.

Read more of this report from the BBC.