Munch art thieves jailed in Oslo

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Three men convicted of stealing two masterpieces by the painter Edvard Munch have been jailed by an appeals court in Norway's capital Oslo.

The Scream and Madonna were stolen in an armed daylight raid from Oslo's Munch Museum in 2004.

The paintings were damaged before police recovered them last year.

The prison sentences range from five-and-a-half to nine-and-a-half years. The men were also told to pay $263,000 (£131,000) in damages.

The gang's driver, Petter Tharaldsen, received the longest sentence for his role in the theft and another unrelated robbery.

Bjoern Hoen, who planned the theft, was sentenced to nine years.

Stian Skjold, one of the two masked gunmen who actually entered the museum, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years after being acquitted of the crime last year.

All three men pleaded not guilty.

The other gunman died of a heroin overdose last year, police said.

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Tharaldsen and Hoen were arrested in 2005 and after a trial last year received prison sentences ranging from four to eight years, which they appealed.

The paintings were somewhat damaged when the robbers pulled the pictures out of their frames, possibly fearing they held tracking devices.

They are undergoing repairs.

The Scream, painted in 1893, is one of the world's most recognisable artworks.

Both it and Madonna were part of Munch's Frieze of Life series, in which sickness, death, anxiety and love were central themes.

The artist was a major influence in the modern expressionist movement and died in 1944 at the age of 80.