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ECHR accepts Crimean museums' claims to Scythian gold — museum director

The uncertainty and legal dispute over ownership and possession of the priceless artifacts arose after the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March 2014

SIMFEROPOL, March 29, TASS/. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has accepted the claims of Crimean museums on Scythian gold, Andrey Malgin, a Crimean museum director, told TASS.

In February 2024, Russian Presidential Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi told TASS that Crimean museums had taken the step of filing lawsuits at the ECHR in order to challenge the Dutch decision to transfer the collection to Ukraine.

"The European Court has accepted the claims. They were filed by Russian lawyers. It is not yet known when the hearing will take place," Malgin said.

The Scythian gold consists of a collection containing more than 2,000 individual items that were placed on loan by their Crimean museum curators for an exhibition that was staged from February to August 2014 by the Allard Pierson Museum, the archeological museum of the University of Amsterdam.

The uncertainty and legal dispute over ownership and possession of the priceless artifacts arose after the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March 2014. Both the Crimean museums and the Ukrainian government claimed legal title to the exhibits. In light of the ownership dispute, the University of Amsterdam suspended the transfer of the valuables until the parties reached an agreement or the matter was resolved through adjudication.

Legal proceedings

In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld a lower court ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals ordering that the Scythian gold collection be handed over to Ukraine. On December 27, 2023, the Ukrainian customs authority said that the Scythian gold had been transported to Kiev and procedures for clearing it through customs had begun. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia’s position that the collection of priceless artifacts belongs to Crimea and must be kept in the Crimean museums that had originally loaned them in 2014 to a Dutch museum for an exhibit. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the transfer of the Scythian gold collection to Ukraine an illegitimate, unscrupulous decision and practically a theft.

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