Greece hails return of stolen ancient statue

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS, June 14 (Reuters Life!) - Greece on Thursday said an agreement with Switzerland to facilitate the return of stolen or illegally excavated antiquities was starting to bear fruit with the return of an ancient male marble torso.

Greece and Switzerland, a main thoroughfare for internationally traded ancient art, signed a memorandum of cooperation in May for the repatriation of illegally exported Greek antiquities.

"The return of this statue would not have taken place were it not for this memorandum," Culture Minister George Voulgarakis told reporters, standing next to the marble male torso dating to the 1st century AD, stolen from the island of Crete in the early 1990s.

"Switzerland is a trading and transit country for cultural products to other countries," he said.

The marble statue of god Apollo, discovered in the late 19th century in the town of Gortyna in Crete, was sought by Greece ever since it was reported stolen in 1991 together with nine other items.

It was not until March this year that Interpol informed Athens it had tracked it down in Berne.

Voulgarakis said Swiss arts dealer David Cahn, who had the statue in his possession, returned it unconditionally after a brief legal dispute.

Greece has already received several priceless ancient objects from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in the past year.