Banksy mural theft ringleader could face 12 years in jail, Ukraine says - CNN

The ringleader of a radical that allegedly tried to bargain a Banksy mural from a partition successful Ukraine could look up to 12 years successful prison, the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs said successful a connection Monday.

The suspect, who has not been named, was served a "notice of suspicion" aft constabulary detained the alleged thieves attempting to region the artwork from a location destroyed by Russian shelling successful the metropolis of Hostomel past month.

Depicting a pistillate successful a state disguise carrying a occurrence extinguisher, the mural is 1 of respective works completed by the British thoroughfare creator successful cities crossed Ukraine, including the superior Kyiv, pursuing Russia's invasion.

According to police, the radical removed the mural from a partition and had intended to transport it from the tract utilizing woody planks. The suspects, who hail from Kyiv and the cardinal Ukrainian metropolis of Cherkasy, were "detained connected the spot," the caput of the Kyiv portion subject administration, Oleksii Kuleba, said astatine the clip of their apprehension successful aboriginal December.

"These images are a awesome of our conflict against the enemy," Kuleba said connected his Telegram transmission pursuing the arrests, adding that the mural itself was undamaged. "These are the stories astir the enactment and solidarity of the full civilized satellite with Ukraine. Let's bash everything to sphere the works of thoroughfare creation arsenic a awesome of our aboriginal victory."

Monday's connection said that the suspects had been arrested "thanks to the vigilance of locals, the constabulary and different information forces." The ministry besides said that the consequent probe has valued the artwork astatine much than 9 cardinal hryvnias ($244,000).

In November, Banksy unveiled a mural of a pistillate gymnast balancing connected a heap of rubble connected the partition of a damaged gathering successful the liberated municipality of Borodianka.

The anonymous thoroughfare creator aboriginal confirmed to The Art Newspaper that helium had completed a full of seven caller works successful Ukraine, including a mural depicting a antheral taking a bath amid the harm caused by Russian shelling successful the colony of Horenka.

In a video posted to Instagram, Banksy showed footage from his clip successful the state and concluded with a connection reading: "In solidarity with the radical of Ukraine."