http://news.aol.com/story/_a/ear-for-ear-justice-for-statue-vandal/200...
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."
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I think this is horrible...how can anyone do this?
Sometimes I wonder how this world has so many ignorant people running around!!


By MaFe on Mar 28, 2008, 10:09 in Off Topic.
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morphus says on Mar 28, 2008, 10:23: The Finnish tourist should get a kick in the ass for his actions.
0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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MaFe says on Mar 28, 2008, 10:26: Morphus be good!! I think they should cut his ear off...see how he likes it... "All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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nueva york bombero says on Mar 28, 2008, 10:39: Damn Morph, I'd think you'd want more of a punishment than that!
0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Desideria (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 11:14: I hate these arrogant, know-it-all younger Finnish backpacker, world-traveller tourists. I think they should cut off his ear and then make him pay a stiff fine and then a couple of years of a Chilean prison would do good. "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth) 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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MaFe says on Mar 28, 2008, 11:35: I am so ashamed to admitt that when my co-worker mentioned this, my first thought was "please tell me it wasn't an American!" "All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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msaucey says on Mar 28, 2008, 12:00: MaFe... For the 1st time it wasn't... LOL.... The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Desideria (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 12:02: They're discussing this incident in all Finnish travel forums; people are angry and ashamed. "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth) 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 12:47: how did he do that? it is a big ear.. .
0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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MaFe says on Mar 28, 2008, 13:13: I don't understand how one could be 26 years old AND... "All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Man Tequila says on Mar 28, 2008, 22:21: Well, don't YOU bite off the ears first when eaten an Easter bunny? Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez) 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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