Munch thieves sentenced to prison

An Oslo court has sentenced three men to prisonfor the 2004 theft of Edvard Munch's The Scream and Madonna.

Bjoern Hoen, who helped mastermind the daring daylight theft from Oslo's Munch Museum, received a nine-year sentence.

The court sentenced Petter Tharaldson to nine years, six months in prison for serving as the getaway driver for the Munch theft and for taking part in another, unrelated robbery.

Stian Skjold, one of the masked gunmen who charged into the museum and ripped the canvases off the wall, received a five-year, six- month sentence.

All three were also sentenced to pay 1.57 million Norwegian crown (nearly $300,000 Cdn) in damages to the city of Oslo, which owns the two paintings.

The Scream and Madonna works were stolen in the daylight raid in front of stunned museum staff and tourists in August 2004.

Police recovered the works in August 2006. Both canvases were damaged and are now undergoing repair.

A pioneer of the early 20th century expressionist movement, Munch created several versions of his key works, including The Scream, known for its anguished subject screaming under a lurid sunset sky.

He painted four versions of The Scream, all part of a series called The Frieze of Life.

The original is in Oslo's National Gallery, while the stolen work the main reproduction and another version were given to the Munch Museum after the artist's death. A private collector owns the fourth.