Skip navigation
sponsored by 

Finn who damaged Easter Island statue to leave

Tourist pays $17,000 fine, apologizes for chipping earlobe off ancient Moai

Image: Easter Island moai ear
Police Handout / EPA file
Marko Kulji removed part of the earlobe from the moai, a monolithic human figure carved from rock, located at the Anakena beach, on the Easter Island.
Slide show
File photo of a visitor taking a picture near the Taj Mahal in the northern Indian city of Agra
Magnificent Seven
The New (architectural) Seven Wonders of the World.

more photos

  Top slideshows
Image: The Empire State Building at night
Getty Images
  The Big Apple
Long referred to as the center of American business, New York is a melting pot of cultures and landscapes. Take a visual tour of some of the Big Apple’s most famous attractions.
Image: Waimea Canyon, Kauai
Lonely Planet Images
  Hawaiian paradise
The Hawaiian Islands are the perfect vacation destination for travelers of all types.
Image: Mount Rainier National Park
Lonely Planet Images
  National spectacles
Nearly 400 national parks can be found all across America, and feature breathtaking vistas, rock formations millions of years old, and more.
  Most popular
• Most viewed• Top rated• Most e-mailed
updated 5:21 a.m. ET April 9, 2008

SANTIAGO, Chile - A Finnish tourist who chipped an earlobe off an ancient Moai on Easter Island is being allowed to go home after paying a US$17,000 fine and agreeing not to return for three years, police said Tuesday.

Marko Kulju, 26, deposited the money into a bank account overseen by the court that handled his case, the Easter Island prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

At prosecutors’ request, Kulju also wrote a public apology for damaging the figure, one of 400 statues carved out of volcanic rock between 400 and 1,000 years ago to represent deceased ancestors. The statues are protected by Chilean law.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

Kulju was taken into custody after being caught by a local Rapanui woman two weeks ago trying to steal a piece of the Moai’s ear as a souvenir. The woman reported him to police on the South Pacific island.

Kulju called his attempted theft “the worst mistake of my life,” in comments published by the Santiago daily newspaper La Tercera in its online edition Tuesday.

Click for related content
Chile & Easter Island air/hotel, $2,230

It was not clear exactly when he planned to leave the island, a Chilean territory.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  MORE FROM NEWS  
  
News Section Front
 
Add News headlines to your news reader:
 

Resource guide