11 Mar 2019 20:20

Amsterdam court sets June 11 as tentative date for verdict in 'Scythian gold' case - Ukrainian Justice Ministry

KYIV. March 11 (Interfax) - The Amsterdam Court of Appeals set June 11 as a tentative date for its verdict in the criminal case regarding Scythian gold artifacts displayed at the exhibition called "Crimea. The Golden Island in the Black Sea," widely known as the "Scythian gold" case, at the court hearings on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Serhiy Petukhov said.

"The Amsterdam Court of Appeals has set June 11 as a tentative date for the decision on the 'Scythian gold,'" Petukhov wrote on Facebook

Four Crimean museums: the Historic-Cultural Reserve in Kerch (which later became part of Eastern Crimea Museum), Taurida Central Museum, the Historic-Cultural Reserve in Bakhchisarai and the Khersonesus Tavrichesky National Reserve, sent a 2,000-item collection to Bonn and later to Amsterdam, to the Allard Pierson Museum, including over 500 Scythian gold artifacts in February 2014. The display also contained items from a Kyiv museum.

As the Netherlands refused to recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia, the question arose of whom the collection should be returned to after the exhibition's closure in August 2014.

In their lawsuit against the Allard Pierson Museum, the Crimean museums sought the return of the "Scythian gold" collection, which comprised 2,000 objects, from the Netherlands to Crimea.

On December 14, 2016, a district court in Amsterdam ruled that the collection of Scythian gold should be returned to Kyiv. The Crimean museums filed an appeal on January 16, 2017.