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CRIME

US Supreme Court to determine fate of Spain-based Pissarro painting looted by Nazis

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the fate of a painting by Camille Pissarro looted by the Nazis in 1939 and currently on display at Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

 Camille Pissarro's painting Rue St Honoré
Under California law, a looted or stolen item cannot be passed on even if it was purchased in good faith. Source: Camille Pissarro's painting "Rue St Honoré, apres-midi/Wikimedia

The 1897 painting, “Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain,” like some other works by the French impressionist, is at the heart of a long legal battle with international ramifications.

The painting, now estimated to be worth around $30 million, once belonged to Lilly Cassirer Neubauer, a member of a prominent German Jewish family.

Neubauer was forced to hand it over for a pittance to the Nazis in 1939 in exchange for the visa which allowed her to leave Germany.

The Neubauer family lost track of the painting after World War II and accepted compensation of $13,000 from the German government in 1958 but did not waive their rights to the artwork.

579px-Camille_Pissarro_-_Rue_Saint-Honoré,_dans_l'après-midi._Effet_de_pluie

Camille Pissarro’s painting “Rue St Honoré, apres-midi, effet de pluie” (1897)
on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, via Wikimedia

The painting changed hands several times in the ensuing decades before ending up with the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid.

It was acquired in 1976 by Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza, heir to the Thyssen industrial group, from the Stephen Hahn Gallery in New York.

Claude Cassirer, Neubauer’s grandson, discovered in 2000 that the painting was on display in Madrid and launched legal efforts in Spain and California to recover it.

Cassirer died in 2010 at the age of 89 but his children, David and Ana, have pursued the court challenges.

After suffering defeats in courts in Spain and California, the Supreme Court represents their final hope.

The highest US court will decide whether Spanish law or US state law applies in the case.

Under Spanish property law, a purchaser is not required to return an item if it was not known at the time that it may have had illegal origins and they have possessed it for at least six years.

“At no point were the Baron’s title to the painting nor his good faith in its acquisition called into question,” according to a statement by the museum.

Under California law, a looted or stolen item cannot be passed on even if it was purchased in good faith.

The court heard technical arguments on Tuesday as to which law should apply and is expected to render its decision in several months.

The Nazis are estimated to have plundered some 600,000 artworks in Europe, according to a US congressional report, and courts on both sides of the Atlantic have regularly heard cases designed to restore items to their original owners.

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CRIME

Convicted rapist Dani Alves leaves Spain jail after posting bail

Convicted rapist and former Brazil international Dani Alves left a prison near Barcelona on Monday after posting the €1 million bail set by a court to ensure his release pending appeal.

Convicted rapist Dani Alves leaves Spain jail after posting bail

The 40-year-old has been in jail since his arrest in January 2023 on suspicion of raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

Wearing jeans and a black jacket, his face expressionless, Alves walked out of the Brians 2 prison in San Esteban Sasroviras near Barcelona with his lawyer, AFP correspondents at the scene said.

The former Barcelona player, one of the world’s most decorated footballers, was convicted last month and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail, with his lawyers swiftly moving to file an appeal.

But in a surprise move, the court agreed last Wednesday to conditionally release him in exchange for posting a €1 million ($1.08 million) bail, handing over his Spanish and Brazilian passports, staying in Spain and presenting himself to court every week.

Alves had tried to make bail several times since his arrest but his requests were turned down on the basis he was a flight risk since Brazil does not extradite citizens sentenced in other countries. Alves’ lawyers are seeking his acquittal, and the appeal process could take months to complete

Prosecutors, however, want his prison sentence doubled to nine years. They and the victim’s lawyer Ester Garcia have appealed the decision to grant Alves bail.

“This sends the message that this is justice for the rich, and even if there is a conviction, if you pay bail there are no criminal consequences,” she told reporters last week.

“It’s a very dangerous message for society,” she added, saying her client was “totally outraged, very despondent and very frustrated”.

Brazil’s Lula slams bail deal

The court’s decision to free Alves was also robustly criticised by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“We cannot stay silent in the face of this injustice,” he said on Thursday, stressing that money “cannot undo the crime that a man commits by raping a woman”.

“When sex is something between two people, it has to be agreed to by both of them,” and if not, that constitutes “a crime”, he said.

During the trial, the victim, who testified behind a screen to protect her identity, said Alves had violently forced her to have sex despite begging him to let her go, causing her “anguish and terror”, according to prosecutors present for her declaration.

Alves’ lawyers had argued the victim had been “glued” to the player while dancing at the nightclub, saying there was “sexual tension” between them. But in its 61-page decision, the court said that did not mean “that she consented to anything that might have subsequently happened”.

Spain’s leftist government passed a new in 2022 that strengthens the country’s penal code against rape by requiring explicit consent for sex acts, a move long demanded by assault survivors and women’s rights groups.

Alves is widely considered one of the greatest defenders of all time, having won 42 trophies. The peak of his career was with Barcelona between 2008 and 2016, alongside Lionel Messi, when he won 23 trophies.

At the time of his arrest, he was contracted to Mexican club Pumas UNAM. He was sacked soon after being detained

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