DUSHANBE, March 5, Asia-Plus -- A court in the Shohmansour district of Dushanbe has sentenced Aleksandr Kulyomin, a junior researcher with the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography, to three years in prison for stealing cultural objects.

The Shohmansour court on March 3 ruled that Aleksandr Kulyomin be given a jail term of three years three for stealing cultural objects and that he should serve his sentence in a high-security prison.  

Judge Zebo Abdurahmonova, who took in the trial, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that Kulyomin, formally charged under Article 251 (stealing items or documents being historical, scientific or cultural importance), faced prison sentence from five to eight years with confiscation of personal property.  “However, taking into consideration that Kulyomin has made for investigation and returned the stolen items to the Institute, the court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment,” Abdurahmonova said.    

The trial of Kulyomin began in the Shohmansour court in early February.  He faced charge of stealing cultural objects, totaling 70 items.  Ramazon Atoyev, an official with the Prosecutor-General’s Office, on February 14 said in an interview with Asia-Plus that corresponding with Russian national Morsel Abele by e-mail in April last year already, Kulyomin offered him purchase of jewelries, vases dated from the 3 ^rd -4 ^th centuries BC as well as silver and bronze coins dated from the times of Alexander the Great, the Kushans, Samanids and Timurids, totaling 70 items.  The prosecutor said that Kulyomin had kept a part of the stolen cultural objects in his office in the Institute and another part in the house of his girl friend.  He was arrested last December and the State Committee for National Security investigated into this case, according to Atoyev.