Ex-Italian honorary consul sentenced to 15 years in absentia

CAIRO - 21 January 2020: Cairo Criminal Court sentenced in absentia former Honorary Italian Consul in Luxor Ladislav Otakar Skakal to 15 years in prison, as he has been convicted of attempting to smuggle 21,855 artifacts in a diplomatic container travelling from Alexandria to the Italian port of Salerno.

Skakal was referred to court by the Public Prosecution in September after investigations that have started since the incident took place in 2018. The artifacts include 21,660 coins, 151 small statues, 11 pottery works, five mummy masks, a wooden sarcophagus, small wooden ships, two canopy heads, and three Islamic-era ceramic tiles.

In October, the prosecution referred brother of Mubarak-era Finance Minister Boutros Ghali and other defendants to the Criminal Court in the notorious case of smuggling thousands of artifacts to Italy.

The prosecution also demanded the rapid arrest of Italy’s former honorary consul in Luxor and enlisting him at the Interpol and the black lists of airports due to his involvement in the crime.