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Crimea ready to provide documents proving ownership of Scythian gold collection

The collection has been kept in Amsterdam since February 2014

© EPA/BART MAAT

SIMFEROPOL, July 16. /TASS/. Crimea is ready to provide documents proving its ownership of the Scythian gold collection to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Director of the Central Museum of Tavrida Andrei Malgin told TASS on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal delayed a verdict in the Scythian gold case requesting that the parties provide further information, particularly on the ownership rights. According to the Court, the parties have been given two months to provide the requested information. "A final judgment may be expected in six to nine months’ time," the Court pointed out. Until then, the Scythian gold collection will remain at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam.

"We are ready to provide any information about the Crimean museums’ ownership of the Scythian gold collection that will make it possible for the Court to make a ruling. We will wait for requests from the Amsterdam Court. Our position remains unchanged: the collection must return to Crimea," Malgin pointed out. "The Court’s halfway decision shows that the matter is complicated and there are no similar precedents that could offer a single interpretation," he added.

Scythian gold issue

The Scythian gold collection from the Crimean museums was put on view at the Allard Pierson Museum of the University of Amsterdam in February 2014 when Crimea was still part of Ukraine. However, after the peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014, uncertainty over the collection arose as both Russia and Ukraine claimed their rights to the exhibits. In this regard, the University of Amsterdam suspended the handover until either the dispute is legally resolved or the parties come to terms.

The Central Museum of Tavrida, the Kerch Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Bakhchysarai Historical and Cultural Preserve and the Chersonesus Historical and Cultural Preserve are among the museums whose items are being kept in Amsterdam. Items provided for the exhibition by a Kiev museum were returned to Ukraine in September 2014.

In December 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that the Scythian gold treasures be returned to Ukraine. Crimea’s museums filed an appeal against this decision.

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