PARIS — Questions arose on Thursday about the role of a stolen painting in the arrest of Goran Hadzic, the war crimes suspect who was apprehended near Belgrade, Serbia, this week after seven years in hiding.
Vladimir Vukcevic, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor, told reporters on Wednesday that the breakthrough in the case had come with a tip that a friend of Mr. Hadzic’s was trying to raise cash for him by selling a stolen painting, believed to be “Portrait of a Man” by the Italian modernist Amedeo Modigliani.
But Mr. Hadzic’s lawyer denied Thursday that Mr. Hadzic had any connection with a Modigliani or any other stolen art. And art experts questioned whether the painting involved was authentic.
Mr. Hadzic, 52, was the last Serbian fugitive wanted by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity and could be extradited to The Hague for trial as early as Friday afternoon.
His arrest on Wednesday came less than two months after that of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general.
Investigators reportedly found a photo of a Modigliani oil painting in December in the home of one of Mr. Hadzic’s friends and suspected that the friend was trying to sell it for him. Officials did not say how Mr. Hadzic would have obtained the painting, but Mr. Vukcevic suggested that he obtained it during the Balkan wars, when he was president of the short-lived Republic of Serbian Krajina, a breakaway area of Croatia.
Christopher A. Marinello, executive director of the Art Loss Register in London, which keeps track of major stolen artworks, said he was awaiting further details from Belgrade, but it was possible that the painting was authentic.
“We have four Modiglianis listed as stolen on our database,” he said. “Three are called ‘Portrait of a Man.’ The fourth actually is a portrait of a man, though it is untitled. So it could be any one of those four.”
“There’s a considerable amount of stolen art going through Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, from all over the world,” he added. “There’s also a great deal of fake work for sale there.”
Mr. Marinello said that Modiglianis have recently sold at auction for $5 million to $30 million.
Only one Modigliani was thought to be in private hands in Serbia, an authenticated 18-by-15-inch painting from around 1918 that was displayed in Belgrade in 2007. Mr. Marinello said that painting had not been reported as lost, stolen or looted.
Mr. Hadzic’s lawyer in Belgrade, Toma Fila, said on Thursday that Mr. Hadzic had nothing to do with stolen art. “There is no Modigliani,” he told Reuters. “He neither tried to sell or sold one. If he had sold such art, they would never have found him. This is the best proof that the Modigliani does not exist.”
Politika Newspaper,via European Pressphoto Agency
Goran Hadzic as he was being arrested. He was the last Serbian fugitive wanted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Modigliani Institut Archives Legales, via Reuters
The painting “Portrait of a Man.” A painting with the same name may be a fake.
But Mr. Hadzic’s lawyer denied Thursday that Mr. Hadzic had any connection with a Modigliani or any other stolen art. And art experts questioned whether the painting involved was authentic.
Mr. Hadzic, 52, was the last Serbian fugitive wanted by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity and could be extradited to The Hague for trial as early as Friday afternoon.
His arrest on Wednesday came less than two months after that of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general.
Investigators reportedly found a photo of a Modigliani oil painting in December in the home of one of Mr. Hadzic’s friends and suspected that the friend was trying to sell it for him. Officials did not say how Mr. Hadzic would have obtained the painting, but Mr. Vukcevic suggested that he obtained it during the Balkan wars, when he was president of the short-lived Republic of Serbian Krajina, a breakaway area of Croatia.
Christopher A. Marinello, executive director of the Art Loss Register in London, which keeps track of major stolen artworks, said he was awaiting further details from Belgrade, but it was possible that the painting was authentic.
“We have four Modiglianis listed as stolen on our database,” he said. “Three are called ‘Portrait of a Man.’ The fourth actually is a portrait of a man, though it is untitled. So it could be any one of those four.”
“There’s a considerable amount of stolen art going through Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, from all over the world,” he added. “There’s also a great deal of fake work for sale there.”
Mr. Marinello said that Modiglianis have recently sold at auction for $5 million to $30 million.
Only one Modigliani was thought to be in private hands in Serbia, an authenticated 18-by-15-inch painting from around 1918 that was displayed in Belgrade in 2007. Mr. Marinello said that painting had not been reported as lost, stolen or looted.
Mr. Hadzic’s lawyer in Belgrade, Toma Fila, said on Thursday that Mr. Hadzic had nothing to do with stolen art. “There is no Modigliani,” he told Reuters. “He neither tried to sell or sold one. If he had sold such art, they would never have found him. This is the best proof that the Modigliani does not exist.”
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