Dutch Supreme Court upholds ruling on Scythian gold handover to Ukraine

ROSTOV-ON-DON. June 9 (Interfax) - The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has upheld the ruling handed down by the preceding court in the case determining the fate of the Scythian gold from Crimean museums' collections, and ruled that it should be handed over to Ukraine, the court said on its website.

"In October 2021, the Court of Appeals ruled that the collection should be handed over to Ukraine. This ruling remains in effect. The Supreme Court decided on this today," the website said.

Four museums - the Kerch Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve (later incorporated into the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve), the Central Museum of Tavrida, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve, and Khersones Tavrichesky - presented the Crimea-Golden Island in the Black Sea exhibition in Bonn in 2013. The exhibition later moved to Amsterdam.

It became unclear after Crimea's entry into Russia in 2014 where to return the Scythian gold collection of 2,000 items to. Crimean museums filed a lawsuit against the Allard Pierson Museum in the Netherlands to demand that the exhibits be returned to the peninsula.

The Amsterdam District Court ruled in December 2016 that the Scythian gold belonged to Ukraine and should be returned to Kiev. The Crimean museums lodged an appeal in January 2017. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal decided in October 2017 that the collection should be handed over to Ukraine. For now, the exhibits, with an insured value of 2 million euros, remain in the Netherlands.

The Crimean museums and authorities called the Court of Appeal's ruling politicized and filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in January 2022.