Defense presents arguments in French smuggling case

In the second session of the trial of Yves Lebourgeois, the 58-year old French national accused of attempting to smuggle rare Yemeni artifacts out of the country, the Capital East Court fined the General Organization for Antiquities and Museums (GOAM) YR 10,000 for not attending the trial.

Judge Abdul-Aziz al-Jarash, presiding over the trial’s second session on Monday, also ordered that the 32 items confiscated from Lebourgeois’ luggage at Sana’a International Airport be transferred to the Department of Archeology at Sana’a University. The department is to form an expert committee that will examine the pieces and provide the court with a thorough report on their origins. 

The court also allowed the defendant to return to work, under the guarantee of the French Consul. The trial was adjourned until June 2nd.  At the beginning of the session, the lawyer for Lebourgeois, Taha al-Ja’afri, petitioned the judge to recognize that the accused is employed by AMEC SPIE-HAWK International Company, and not Hawk Company as stated in the previous session. 

Prosecutor Abdullah al-Qurashi presented his case against Lebourgeois and the accusations levied against him.  He also asked the judge to investigate rumors that his employers were helping him to smuggle the items to France.

Al-Ja’afri presented a document explaining that his client is working in Yemen as senior engineer in the field of oil and gas. He told the court about his client’s health condition that forces him to return to France every nine or ten months. “As my client is respected by all the other company employees, one Yemeni wanted to express his admiration for him by giving him a number of antiquities as souvenirs,” he said. The Yemeni in question is identified only by the name Anwar.

“My client did not know that the items were rare ancient artifacts; he is not a smuggler or antiquities trader. He receives enough money from his work,” he added.

Al-Ja’afri denied that his client was arrested while preparing to leave Sana’a for Paris. He said that Lebourgeois was actually arrested during an airport security check upon his arrival on a flight from his work site in Shabwa governorate.  Furthermore, the defense claimed that all of the items in question “were fakes.”

Al-Ja’afri asked the court to lift his client’s house arrest and allow him to go back to work. He also asked that one particular item, a carving of a stag, to be sent for evaluation to a neutral country. The prosecution claims that it is clearly authentic.

Prosecutor al-Qurashi refuted the defense claims saying, “The defendant was arrested inside the departure gate at Sana’a airport on his way out of the country.”

Al-Ja’afri also presented the court with issue number 38 of Yemen Observer, which featured a front-page story about the case, in which the paper reported that authorities had arrested a Canadian citizen carry nearly 200 artifacts dating back to the Stone Age at Sana’a airport last Thursday. The suspect was subsequently released from custody. Al-Ja’afri questioned why his client was being prosecuted while the other individual was being treated so leniently. 

Hisham al-Thawr, manager of the protection of artifacts unit at GOAM, told the Yemen Observer that they would assess the artifacts that were seized from the Canadian to evaluate them and decide on how to proceed with the case.

Al-Qurashi said that the man in question works for SAFER Company and that it is the first time that he has been arrested. “The interior ministry will conduct a disciplinary hearing for the officer responsible for releasing the [Canadian] shortly after his arrest,” he said.

AMEC SPIE-HAWK issued a warning to all its employees about repeating such behavior in the future. “This is to inform you that any project personnel attempting to buy, sell, carry and smuggle items of historical or national importance items such as artifacts, antiquities, statuettes, ancient coins and stamps, may face imprisonment as per governing national laws of the Republic of Yemen,” the statement read.

If any one is found to be involved in such activity, no assistance will be provided by the project management, the warning concluded. 

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