"Scythian gold" must be returned to Ukraine: Supreme Court of the Netherlands puts an end to the case

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has ruled that the Scythian gold, which has been the subject of litigation in that country for years, should be returned to Ukraine. Since 2014, the objects have been stored in the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam after it received them on loan from four museums in Crimea.

This was reported on June 9 by NOS. It is noted that the court confirmed the decision made by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal back in October 2021.

It should be reminded that when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, it became unclear to whom these items should be transferred: to museums in the temporarily occupied Crimea or Ukraine.

In February 2014, the collection was taken to the capital of the Netherlands to participate in the exhibition "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea", which was held at the Pearson Museum. It was unofficially called "Scythian gold" or "Crimean gold", which is the name of the lawsuit.

On December 14, 2016, the Amsterdam court decided to return the Scythian gold to Ukraine, but in January 2017, the so-called Crimean museums under the leadership of the occupiers began the process of appealing the decision.

In 2021, the judges again ruled in favour of our country, but then the "Crimean museums" appealed to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

Finally, on June 9, it ruled that the treasures are the cultural heritage of all of Ukraine.

The head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, reacted to the decision of the Dutch court to return the Scythian gold to Ukraine. He stressed that the court battles in this case lasted almost 9 years. All this time, the aggressor country Russia wanted to deprive our country of its cultural heritage.

"The court has now completely dismissed the cassation appeal of the Crimean museums and upheld the appeal decision, which satisfied Ukraine's claims. Justice will triumph in other cases concerning Russia's crimes. We will return everything that belongs to our nation," he wrote on Telegram.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, representatives of the aggressor country Russia continued to export Ukrainian historical property from the occupied territories. For example, the occupiers stole Scythian gold in the captured city of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia.

An international group of scholars and digital experts expressed their belief that such actions by the Russian Federation are not random looting, but a deliberate strategy.

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