Irish paintings still incarcerated after two years

ROME -- Irish artist Michelle Rogers’ collection of art was seized by Italian officials in 2010 as part of a fraud investigation into telecommunications operator, Fastweb. Massimo Micucci, owner of the Aequalis Gallery where the paintings were being displayed was arrested as part of that investigation and the paintings confiscated. Two years on they are still under lock and key.

 Some 14 works  from Rogers’ ‘On Earth as it is in Heaven’ exhibition were the victims of overzealous investigators who placed the pieces in a lock up, saying that all assets of Miccucci were evidence. However, the paintings never belonged to Miccucci, who merely owned the gallery where they were temporarily exhibited.

 Several of the paintings were in the process of being sold, and Rogers said she has lost out in a big way by having them seized. “It’s five years’ worth of work, the collection is a major part of my life and I miss having a lot of work that I really love.”

 Rogers has done everything she can think of to try and get her paintings released, “I’ve staged protests, I’ve hired lawyers, but nothing has worked.”

 Japanese photographs which were seized on the same day were relinquished soon after following a push for their liberation from the Japanese Embassy. Rogers has contacted the Irish Embassy asking for help, but said that though she does have support “it just hasn’t been enough.”

 The Embassy had no immediate comment.

 Micucci was caught up in the net of a huge investigation into the Fastweb scandal. He was arrested in mid-February 2010 as a business associate of another man who had dealings with Silvio Scaglia, the Italian telecoms entrepreneur detained for his involvement in a money-laundering and tax-fraud scheme surrounding Fastweb. After being imprisoned for a year, he was released to house arrest, and one month ago was told he was free to move around rome, but is still not allowed to leave the city. Meanwhile, Rogers’ paintings are still kept locked away.

 During the whole time that Micucci was detained he was never officially questioned by authorities, and to date has still not been interviewed by the authorities. Micucci expressed his hope that Michelle would get her paintings back.

 Rogers is optimistic that she the paintings will be released in the near future; “I hope that in the next few weeks they will be released, before the 2 year anniversary.” Rogers and her lawyer were recently informed that the paintings had been "declassified as proof," meaning they might be one step closer to freedom.

 Rogers is a respected artist, who worked for Amnesty International, painting scenes from Bosnia, for nearly five years. Growing up on the Irish border, much of her work has depicted scenes of conflict, and she also created works on the first Iraq war, though she also paints portraits for high profile clients.