MOSCOW, September 4 (RAPSI) – Military panel of Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld on Thursday the sentence against three former officers of Federal Security Service (FSB) over the theft of a rare 15th-century Bible from the Moscow State University, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.
Two volumes of the Bible were stolen from the University’s storage in 2009. Former FSB officers reportedly tried to sell the Bible to an unnamed collector.
In June 2014, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced Colonel Sergei Vedischev to 3.5 years in a general security penal colony. Major Mikhail Lepkov was sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in a penal colony settlement. Captain Viktor Puchka got a 1-year sentence. He was released after the verdict was read because he had served time.
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible or the Mazarin Bible) was the first major work printed in Europe. One of its copies was taken from the Leipzig University in 1945 and housed in the Moscow State University’s Research Library.