ST. PETERSBURG, 16  (RAPSI, Kirill Chulkov) – The Oktyabrsky District Court in St. Petersburg has extended until December 15 the house arrest of  a prominent art expert Yelena Basner accused of misattributing a painting in a case that illuminates the murky complexities of Russia’s art market, attorney Larisa Malkova told RAPSI on Tuesday.

Yelena Basner faces up to a decade in jail over a painting attributed to Russian pre-revolutionary avant-garde painter Boris Grigoryev that was sold for $250,000.

The painting, allegedly appraised by Basner in 2009, was proven in 2011 to be a fake.

Basner, a former employee of the Bukowskis auction house as well as the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, was detained by the Investigative Committee in February.

The arrest of the expert on the Russian avant-garde movement, who has vehemently denied guilt, sparked outrage in the Russian museum community.