Congolese Activist "We Will Reclaim Our Stolen Heritage"... Attempt to Seize French Museum

Arrested on the 22nd for Attempted Theft at the Louvre Museum
Earlier Attempts at Theft Also Made at Marseille and Quai Branly Museums

▲Emry Umwazulu Diyabanza, an activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Emry Umwazulu Diyabanza, an activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, has emerged as a person of interest banned from entering major European museums.

This is because he has been visiting major European museums and claiming the restitution of artworks taken from Africa, which was colonized by France in the past.

According to the French daily Le Figaro on the 27th (local time), Diyabanza was arrested by police on the 22nd while attempting to take a piece exhibited at the Louvre Museum and was released on the 26th.

The artwork Diyabanza tried to take from the Louvre, ahead of his trial scheduled for December 3rd, is a piece brought by France from Indonesia in the late 18th century, not from Africa.

In June, Diyabanza was also charged for attempting to take a piece exhibited at the Quai Branly Museum and was recently fined 1,000 euros (approximately 1.33 million KRW).

Other activists who accompanied him in his offenses were fined between 250 euros and 1,000 euros (approximately 330,000 to 1.33 million KRW), but all have expressed their intention to appeal.

In July, Diyabanza attempted to take ivory exhibited at the Marseille Museum in France, and in September, he attempted but failed to steal a statue from a museum in the Netherlands.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.