Crimea’s representatives have said on various
occasions that they have every right to claim the artifacts since they all had
been unearthed on Crimean territory and had been kept in Crimea’s museums.
SIMFEROPOL,
January 16. /TASS/. A new expert council has been established in Russia in
order to return the Scythian gold collection from Amsterdam to the Crimean
museums, General Director of the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural
Preserve Tatyana Umrikhina told reporters on Tuesday.
Apart from
the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Central Museum of
Tavrida, the Bakhchysarai Historical and Cultural Preserve and the Chersonesus
Historical and Cultural Preserve are among those museums whose items are
currently kept in Amsterdam.
According to Umrikhina, in order to return the Scythian gold collection to Crimea, "a new expert council has been established." "The Justice Ministry is now supervising these activities instead of the Culture Ministry, we are represented by Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Muradov," she said, adding that it was the Crimean museums’ duty to fight for the return of the Scythian gold collection to the Peninsula.
Umrikhina
also said that the museums had worked out a new method of defense, hiring three
new lawyers. "In addition to the lawyer that we had before, there are now
three new ones… We very much hope that the new defense method will prove
effective and the court will be willing to assess all the circumstances,"
she noted.
In late
December 2017, Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevgeny Nishchuk told reporters and
the Amsterdam Court would begin to hear the appeal on the Scythian gold case in
February 2018.
According
to the Crimean museums, the appeal will be heard in spring. "The exact
date has not been announced, it was said that it would happen this year,
presumably in March or April," Umrikhina said.
Legal battle
As TASS
reported earlier, on December 14, 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that
the Scythian gold treasures should be returned to Ukraine and not the Crimean
museums. The Crimean museums filed an appeal against the court’s decision.
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, an uncertainty over the
collection arose as both Russia and Ukraine claimed 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.
Crimea’s representatives have said on various occasions that they have every right to claim the artifacts since they all had been unearthed on Crimean territory and had been kept in Crimea’s museums.
The court
also ruled that Ukraine must pay €111,000 to the Allard Pierson Museum in
compensation for the cost of storing and insuring the collection. Ukrainian
Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko said in this connection that the money would be
transferred after the final verdict was announced.
Source: ITAR-TASS 16-01-2018
