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Scythian gold hearings may last from day to months — lawyer

The collection of Scythian gold, from five museums in Kiev and in Crimea, was dispatched to the Netherlands in February 2014, later, when Crimea reunified with Russia, the gold was not returned

MOSCOW, July 29 /TASS/. The District Court of Amsterdam will hold the first hearing on the Scythian gold case on October 5. The process may last from one day to several months, lawyer Anastasiya Savitskaya, who is in charge of the case in Russia, told TASS on Friday.

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Amsterdam court postpones hearing on Scythian gold case

"I find it hard to make any forecasts or assessments on this case or set any formal timeframe. It is complicated; politically tainted and debatable from the legal point of view. It is unclear if the first hearing will be the last or not. Our Dutch fellow-lawyers say it could be the last but I believe the court will gather for one more session at least. But anything may happen," Savitskaya said.

The collection of Scythian gold, featuring 550 exhibits from five museums, one in Kiev and four in Crimea, was dispatched to the Netherlands in February 2014 to be exhibited at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam when Crimea was still part of Ukraine. Later in 2014, when Crimea reunified with Russia, the museum decided not to return the gold to either Ukraine or Russia and urged an official investigation that would identify the owner.

The Republic of Crimea believes it has every right to claim the exhibits back because they have been found in the peninsula’s territory and have been kept in its museums.

The appraised insurance value of all the exhibits exceeds a million euros.

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