Soviet Court Sentences 7 for Icon Smuggling
From Reuters
MOSCOW —
A Moscow court sentenced seven men to labor camp terms Monday for smuggling icons and other antiquities valued at $7 million to the West, the news agency Tass said.
Icons and other religious artwork are considered national treasures, and their export is banned by Soviet law.
Tass said the smugglers, six Soviet men and one from the West African country of Benin, had collaborated with Soviet emigres in the West and African diplomats in Moscow.
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