Six Georgian nationals have been sentenced in France to prison terms of up to seven years for the theft of rare editions of Russian literary classics, including works by 19th-century writer Alexander Pushkin, from well-known and prestigious French libraries, The Caspian Post reports, citing AFP.

The trial represents the latest case in a series of investigations into similar thefts in recent years targeting libraries across Europe.

Authorities suspect the crimes were carried out by an organised network that may have links to Russia.

The stolen items included rare Russian literary classics collectively valued at millions of euros, featuring works by major 19th-century authors such as Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, and Mikhail Lermontov.

All six defendants - five men and one woman - were found guilty overnight from Friday into Saturday of criminal conspiracy with intent to commit an offence. Some were also convicted of theft involving cultural assets on display.

Two of the accused were sentenced in absentia, as they had already been arrested in their home country of Georgia, which does not extradite its citizens.

Another two defendants - identified as Mikheil Z. and Beqa T. - had already been convicted and imprisoned in other countries for similar offences and were temporarily transferred to France for the proceedings.

Mikheil Z., aged 50, received the harshest sentence of seven years in prison. He was also banned from entering France for life after serving his sentence and being deported. He had previously been sentenced in Lithuania to three years and four months in prison for organised theft of 19th-century publications valued at €606,000 (about $698,000).

Beqa T., aged 49, received a four-year prison sentence in France, in addition to an earlier sentence of three years and six months that he had already received in Estonia.

During the trial, the prosecutor argued that the defendants’ actions were “massive, organised, planned and executed with meticulousness and cynicism.”

The thefts - which also affected libraries in Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic - led to the establishment of a joint investigative team involving Europol and Eurojust. This coordinated effort resulted in several arrests in 2024.

In France, the thefts took place in 2023 at several major institutions: the Diderot Library of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Lyon, as well as the National Library of France (BnF) and the University Library of Languages and Civilisations (BULAC) in Paris.

Investigators say the suspects visited libraries to consult rare and valuable works, during which they photographed and measured the items. They later returned and replaced the originals with highly convincing copies that were almost impossible to detect immediately.

Between March and October 2023, Mikheil Z. visited the BnF 40 times to request access to manuscripts, mostly works by Pushkin. He claimed he was conducting research on democracy in 19th-century Russian literature.

In November of that year, the BnF discovered that nine works had been swapped with counterfeit copies, with the estimated loss placed at €650,000.

In June 2024, Russia’s Litfond auction house included in its catalogue a second edition of Pushkin’s “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”, which corresponded to a copy that had been stolen from the BnF.

The auction house informed French authorities that it possessed documentation showing the book had been purchased from its owner in Russia during 2014 or 2015.