The Dutch Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that a collection of ancient Crimean gold artifacts claimed by Ukraine and museums in Russian-occupied Crimea must be returned to the Ukrainian state.
Artifacts, including a gold helmet and necklace, each weighing more than a kilogram, were exhibited in the Netherlands when Russia occupied the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in 2014.
The court concluded that the interests of Ukraine’s national culture outweighed the interests of Crimean museums and ruled that the Alard Pearson Museum in the Netherlands was no longer obliged to return these artifacts to Crimean museums.
The decision of the Dutch Court of Appeal can still be challenged in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
Already in 2016, the lower court ruled that the Alard Pearson Museum should return these archaeological treasures to the Ukrainian government, but Russia appealed this decision.
However, the Court of Appeal noted that the lower court had erred in holding that only governments could qualify for cultural heritage sites.
The University of Amsterdam, which owns the Alard Pearson Museum, has stated that the museum will continue to keep the objects until all appeal possibilities have been exhausted.
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