An Italian citizen was arrested in Nepal on charges of aver attempted to appropriate archaeological findswhile visiting a temple. Tiziano Ronchi, Brescian professor of visual arts at the Santa Giulia Academy, is currently hospitalized and is prevented from leaving the country. The family is in constant contact with the Farnesina and the Consulate. According to the Nepalese authorities, Ronchi would have picked up a wooden fragment resting on the floor during a visit to the Taleju temple in Bhaktapur.
According to Nepalese media myRepùblica, “an eyewitness reported seeing the foreign national trying to remove the metal statue with a knife and informed the Nepalese army soldiers guarding the temple. The foreigner tried to escaped but was subsequently arrested and handed over to the police”.