Mayor of Easter Island wants ear-for-ear justice for statue

[chitoryu12]

Linky

SANTIAGO, Chile (March 27) - An ear for an ear?

The angry mayor of Easter Island said Thursday he wished the Finnish tourist accused of chipping an earlobe off an ancient Moai could have his ear clipped off as "justice" for damaging one of the world-famous statues.

Finnish tourist Marko Kulju, 26, issued a public apology through a Chilean newspaper on Thursday, saying he regretted the incident that has caused an uproar on the South Pacific island, a Chilean territory.

It was not clear whether Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa had read the published apology.

"If an ear is cut off, then an ear gets cut," Edmunds Paoa told Cooperative radio. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth: That would be my form of justice."

In a letter published in the La Tercera daily newspaper, Kulju said he sincerely apologized, "particularly to the residents of Easter Island."

Authorities accused him of breaking the ear off a Moai on Sunday and trying to take a piece of it as a souvenir. The statue is one of 400 carved out of volcanic rock representing ancestors of island residents.

At the Finnish Embassy in Santiago, Consul Patricia Loflund said she was in contact with Kulju, who is expected to remain under house arrest at his hotel for 13 days before paying a fine.

"He's very down and regrets what he did," Loflund said. "It's very unlikely he will be given a prison sentence but we can't be sure, of course.

"He really didn't realize the magnitude of his actions," she said.
In the Finnish capital of Helsinki thousands of miles away, the chairman of a health club where Kulju regularly practiced fitness boxing said he was a responsible and well-liked person.

"We haven't had a single bad experience with him; quite the opposite," Eero Vsara told The Associated Press.

"We all make mistakes in our lives, and this was his mistake."

How can you not realize that damaging a world-famous monument for a souvenir is a big no-no? Either way, I think this mayor needs to figure out that in this century, mutilation is somewhat frowned upon in most places.

[Darth Wong]

Why don't they just hold him until he can pay them a sum of money necessary to compensate them for the damage? Perhaps they could calculate the size of the lost piece relative to the size of all the statues on Easter Island, and then divide the present value of Easter Island's entire tourism revenue for the next hundred years by that proportion to figure out what he owes. Surely, if he's such as "responsible" person, he would accept that. What do people think the word "responsible" means, anyway?

[Johonebesus]

...What do people think the word "responsible" means, anyway?

Being willing to give a tearful "apology" when caught of course. Having to actually suffer in some way when one does something wrong is of course out of the question.

[General Zod]

Judging from the picture it looks like that ear is a rather big chunk of stone. How the fuck was he planning to get it out of the country exactly? I doubt customs would have simply just overlooked it.

[Adrian Laguna]

Judging from the picture it looks like that ear is a rather big chunk of stone. How the fuck was he planning to get it out of the country exactly? I doubt customs would have simply just overlooked it.

He was trying to get a small piece of it, probably pebble sized.

[The Vortex Empire]

Judging from the picture it looks like that ear is a rather big chunk of stone. How the fuck was he planning to get it out of the country exactly? I doubt customs would have simply just overlooked it.

He was trying to get a small piece of it, probably pebble sized.

Which is not a crime where losing a chunk of your ear is fair punishment.

[General Zod]

Which is not a crime where losing a chunk of your ear is fair punishment.

What the fuck are you trying to say? I can't make heads or tails out of this. It's one thing to want to take home a small piece of a national monument but this assclown went about it in one of the most retarded ways possible. (Not that I agree with the ear for ear thing).

[The Vortex Empire]

I'm saying that mutilation isn't fair punishment. A hefty fine and maybe imprisonment is, but not that.

[General Zod]

I'm saying that mutilation isn't fair punishment. A hefty fine and maybe imprisonment is, but not that.

Nobody said that it was, so why were you quoting people?

[fusion]

Singapore style: caned five times for vandalism...
That can work...

[Molyneux]

Judging from the picture it looks like that ear is a rather big chunk of stone. How the fuck was he planning to get it out of the country exactly? I doubt customs would have simply just overlooked it.

He was trying to get a small piece of it, probably pebble sized.

Which is not a crime where losing a chunk of your ear is fair punishment.

Still, I'd think he should at least be held accountable for however much money is required to restore the statue as well as can be done.

[The Vortex Empire]

He was trying to get a small piece of it, probably pebble sized.

Which is not a crime where losing a chunk of your ear is fair punishment.

Still, I'd think he should at least be held accountable for however much money is required to restore the statue as well as can be done.

Of course.

[chitoryu12]

Update: Looks like he'll be leaving with both ears intact.