PARIS, June 13. /TASS/. The European Court of Human Rights has accepted for consideration the case of Crimean museums on Scythian gold, the court’s press service told TASS.
"The case was registered as 'Bakhchisaray Historical, Cultural and Archaeological Museum-Reserve and others against the Netherlands and Ukraine.' The decision has not yet been taken," the press service said.
Earlier, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian Special Presidential Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy told TASS that Russia has no contacts with the European Court of Human Rights in the Scythian gold case. In his opinion, external interference is not the best solution so far.
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.