[CPProt.net] Insider theft: A treaty and a theft. The case of Napoleon's 1814 treaty

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

A treaty and a theft 
November 26, 2005

The case of Napoleon's 1814 treaty  

PARIS: A Paris criminal court agreed on Thursday to hear a case involving
two Americans in connection with the theft of an original copy of the 1814
treaty in which Napoleon renounced any claim to France. 

John William Rooney and Marshall Lawrence Pierce were charged in connection
with the 1988 theft of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed by Napoleon, from
France's National Archives. Rooney is a 74-year-old retired college
professor. 

U.S. authorities have not permitted French judicial investigators to
question the men, who were convicted and fined in the U.S. on misdemeanour
charges of customs violations in 2003 in the case. They could face up to
three years in prison if convicted by the Paris court. U.S. officials found
the treaty as part of an investigation opened in 1996, after Sotheby's
auction house told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Pierce had put
the treaty up for sale. 

In the treaty, Napoleon renounced any claim to ruling the French empire and
agreed to be exiled on the island of Elba. 

Rooney visited the National Archives on several occasions in the 1980s and
had access to areas where the treaty and historical documents were kept. 

U.S. officials returned the treaty, along with dozens of original documents
from the period, to France in 2002, after the papers were discovered in
Pierce's possession during the U.S. investigation. - AP

http://www.hindu.com/