NANTERRE, France -- A New York art dealer was found guilty by a French court of receiving a painting stolen from a collection by France's wartime Nazi occupiers.

The court in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre heard that Adam Williams, a 49-year-old British citizen, bought the painting in 1989 from the London Auction House Christie's for 1.2 million francs (153,000 dollars).

Williams, who is currently in the United States, was given an eight month suspended prison sentence.

The court also ordered that the painting, the 17th century "Portrait of Pastor Adrianus Tegularius" by Frans Hals from the Adolphe Schloss Collection, be returned to its rightful inheritors.

Williams had denied knowing that the painting had been stolen.

It was seized in 1990 during an exhibition in Paris when Scloss' descendants brought an action against the dealer, a buyer for the prestigious Newhouse galleries.

Williams' lawyer, Michael Brooke, said that his client was planning to appeal.

But the decision was hailed as victory by Pierre-Francois Veil, a lawyer acting for the Schloss estate, AFP reported.

"It's important in so far as it shows that art professionals can no longer claim that they are holding in good faith artworks stolen during the war, which are well known and catalogued," he said.

"Today the judgement is against a private dealer, but tomorrow it will be a precedent that will apply to museums and galleries."