A 27-year-old man from Brescia was stopped in Nepal by local authorities who accuse him of stealing protected archaeological finds. The man, Tiziano Ronchi, professor of Visual Arts at the Accademia Santa Giulia, is currently in hospital for some previous pathologies.
The professor is accused of collecting archaeological finds while visiting a temple in Bhaktapur. According to the defensive version, he took and observed the finds and then stored them where they were originally.
The news appeared in the local newspaper Brescia today and was confirmed by sources at the Foreign Ministry, who specified that there were no cameras on site and that the Nepalese legislation on the protection of cultural and sacred heritage is particularly strict.
The detention, Italian diplomatic sources specify, took place last Monday and the Foreign Ministry immediately took action, through the honorary consulate in Kathmandu, the Italian embassy in New Delhi, also responsible for Nepal and, more closely, the Italian consulate in Calcutta.
Consul Gianluca Rubagotti visited Tiziano Ronchi yesterday at the hospital in Kathmandu, where he was taken after the arrest following a request made by the lawyer that the consulate found for him, finding him in fair health.