The Amsterdam Court of Appeal on March 11, set June 11 as a tentative date for its verdict in the so-called “Scythian gold” case.
“The Amsterdam Court of Appeal has set June 11 as a tentative date for the decision on the ‘Scythian gold,'” Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Serhiy Petukhov said on Facebook on March 11.
The hearing of the case involves artifacts from the exhibit ‘Crimea – the Golden Island in the Black Sea’ from the collections of four Crimean-based museums – the Historic-Cultural Reserve in Kerch, the Taurida Central Museum, the Historic-Cultural Reserve in Bakhchisarai and the Khersonesus Tavrichesky National Reserve.
According to Ukraine’s Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, there are more than 565 museum items from Ukrainian museums in Crimea in the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. They are mostly archaeological finds. The insured value of the collection is 10 million euros.
Since the Netherlands has refused to recognize Crimea’s annexation by Russia in March 2014, the question of whom the collection should be returned to arose after the closure of the exhibition in August 2014.
In their lawsuit against the Allard Pierson Museum, the Crimean museums sought the return of the “Scythian gold” collection, which comprised 2,000 objects, from the Netherlands to Crimea.
On Dec. 14, 2016, a district court in Amsterdam ruled in Ukraine’s favor. On Jan. 16, 2017, the four Crimean museums appealed the decision made by the Amsterdam district court.
