A Swedish neo-Nazi leader accused of masterminding the theft of the Auschwitz death camp entrance in December 2009 sign will serve 32 months behind bars in his homeland under a plea bargain, Polish prosecutors said Thursday.
According to Krakow prosecutor Robert Parys, while 35-year-old Anders Hoegstroem pleaded not guilty during the investigation, he admitted his role before the case reached court Thursday during the plea bargain.
He had risked up to 10 years behind bars if convicted in Poland of masterminding the theft.
"Under a plea bargain with prosecutors, he accepted a penalty of two years and eight months in prison. He will serve his sentence in Sweden."
Hoegstroem was arrested in Sweden on a Polish warrant in February on suspicion of ordering the theft of the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" sign from the site of the World War II Nazi camp in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim.
Polish police recovered the five-metre (16-foot) metal sign -- which means "Work Will Set You Free" in German -- two days after it went missing late last year. It had been chopped into three pieces.
Five Polish men were arrested and charged with the actual theft of the sign, three of whom have already been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
The two others, Marcin A. and Andrzej S. (surnames withheld in accordance with Polish law), who have been charged with incitement to commit the theft and complicity, have been prosecuted alongside Hoegstroem.
Both men have pleaded guilty and will serve 30 months and 28 months prison terms respectively.
According to prosecutor Janusz Hnatko, the they were motivated by financial gain and were expected to receive the equivalent of between 1250-2500 euros each for their participation.
In 1994, Anders Hoegstroem founded the National Socialist Front, a Swedish neo-Nazi movement he ran for five years before quitting.
He told Swedish media he was to act as an intermediary to pick up the sign and sell it to a buyer, adding however that he informed Polish police about the people behind the plot.
The Auschwitz “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign serves as an historical item with great significance in the commemoration of the atrocities of the Holocaust, specifically those which took place in the Auschwitz death camp, where over a million people were murdered and many more enslaved, tortured and experimented on by the Nazis.