article_snippet: Riad Al Qassas told customs a statue for 'home decoration' $$$$ was from Turkey and worth £100,000 .
article_snippet: A judge took a day out of court yesterday to visit the British Museum.
article_snippet: But it wasn’t for an Easter holiday jolly around the exhibits.
article_snippet: The trial centres on a businessman who claimed in paper work that the treasure was a statue for home decoration.
article_snippet: Experts, however say the Greek marble figure – which is thought to depict Persephone, goddess of the underworld – was looted from a world heritage site.
article_snippet: Yesterday District Judge John Zani – accompanied by a gaggle of barristers and solicitors – went to inspect the statue at the British Museum, where it is being safeguarded in a basement till the conclusion of the case of an ancient statue which is said to have be smuggled out of war-torn Libya.
article_snippet: Although the press were barred from the viewing, a video of it was later played in court which showed the judge circling the statue as marks were pointed out to him.
article_snippet: The sculpture is said to have originally served as a grave marker and displays unusual iconography including snake-like bracelets and a doll-type figurine.
article_snippet: Dr Peter Higgs, curator of Greek sculpture at the British Museum, told the judge the statue was in ‘the top ten’ of the statue class.
article_snippet: Andrew Bird, for HMRC, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that academics had decided ‘on the balance of probabilities, the statue had been unlawfully excavated from a UNESCO world heritage site’.
highlights_snippet: Riad Al Qassas told customs it was a statue for 'home decoration' 