Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Loic Venance/AFP 9:29 p.m., March 22, 2024

A minor, arrested after the fire of a paper work at the Vannes Museum of Fine Arts in early March, was sentenced to one year in prison. This minor was tried before the Vannes children's court for this damage, but also for different acts, in particular violence and death threats. 

A minor arrested after the fire in early March of a paper work at the Vannes Museum of Fine Arts was sentenced Friday to a one-year prison sentence for this act of vandalism and another case of previous violence, announced the prosecution. On March 9, an eight-meter-long strip of paper, part of a monumental work exhibited at the Musée de la Cohue, was completely destroyed by flames.

Tried before the Vannes children's court

This minor, whose age was not specified, was tried before the Vannes children's court for this damage, but also for various acts, in particular violence and death threats, committed between spring 2023 and January 2024 , indicated in a press release the public prosecutor of Vannes, Maxime Antier. “He was found guilty of all the offenses with which he was accused” in these two cases and sentenced to a three-year prison sentence, including two years with a probationary suspension of 24 months, adds Maxime Antier.

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“The firm part of this sentence is in the form of an external placement,” specifies the prosecutor. The minor has the obligation to respect placement in a reinforced educational center, the obligation to follow treatment, the obligation to work/training and the obligation to repair the damage caused. He is also prohibited from appearing in Vannes and from possessing or carrying a weapon subject to authorization for a period of three years. Questioned by the police after the fire of the work of art, the young man admitted "a voluntary gesture , without political connotation.

Entitled “And like a blue earthenware”, the work of Salomé Fauc exhibited at the Musée de la Cohue was composed of several strips of paper. When it caught fire, the targeted strip burned very quickly but fortunately the fire did not spread to neighboring strips or to the wooden frame of the museum. However, the establishment had to be evacuated due to smoke.