The mural of the story is that taking art could lead to charges for eight men accused of stealing street artist Banksy’s mural in France meant to honor victims of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
Three of the men admitted to stealing the mural from Paris’s Bataclan concert hall but dispute who was behind the idea, according to Reuters. The accused thieves were merely small-time crooks who were not aware of what they were stealing, the defense lawyers for the trio claim.
“It’s simple. Since the beginning of this case, he has said he was there because he knew how to cut doors. It’s as stupid as that. He was asked to do that, he did it, he put the door in the van, and [he] went home,” the defense attorney for Franck Grillet-Aubert, one of the three men, said.
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The trio was caught after their phones were tracked following a separate theft, according to police.
The mural, spray-painted in 2018 by the mysterious street artist, was located on an exit door at the concert hall and depicts a darkly veiled woman with her head bowed, considered an homage to the victims of the attacks.
Ninety people were killed after gunmen affiliated with the Islamic State group opened fire at the Bataclan theater in November 2015 during a concert. The attack on the concert hall was a part of a coordinated attack on Paris that night that saw more than 130 people killed.
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The mural was stolen in January 2019 but was quickly found by police in a farmhouse before being returned to the concert hall.
