Muradov: another hearing of Scythian gold case to take place before year-end

Another hearing of the Scythian gold case will take place in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal before the end of the year, while a final ruling is expected at the end of 2019 or at the beginning of 2020, Russian Permanent Presidential Envoy to Crimea Georgy Muradov said.

"As far as we know, another hearing was planned to take place before the end of the year. We expect the Court to make a final decision at the end of the year or at the beginning of next year," Muradov said.

He pointed out that Crimea considered the Court’s decision to postpone a verdict as a "promising signal indicating an intention to take the case seriously."

According to Muradov, a lower court’s decision that the collection should be returned to Ukraine ran counter to international museum laws. "The Scythian gold collection is a collection of Crimean treasures, it is the cultural heritage of the Crimean people. Under museum laws and the relevant contracts, the treasures should be returned to the Crimean museums where they had been kept before an exhibition in Europe. We are protecting our rights, our museums’ rights to the priceless artifacts that were put on display in Amsterdam and became a target for Kiev’s plundering policy," TASS cited him as saying.

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.