The Tavrida Museum expressed hope for an objective consideration of the complaint to the ECHR

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SIMFEROPOL, February 15 The Central Museum of Taurida expects a balanced and objective approach in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the complaint of Crimean museums against violation of their rights in the case of the fate of the Scythian gold collection transferred by the Amsterdam court to Ukraine.
Earlier, the special representative of the Russian President for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, said that Crimean museums filed claims with the ECHR after the decision of the Dutch courts to transfer the collection to Ukraine. He emphasized that this authority should consider the appeal of the Crimean museums, despite the fact that Russia has withdrawn from the ECHR.

The complaint to the European Court of Human Rights was filed back in October 2023, the museum clarified. It was filed against the Netherlands and Ukraine. The museum administration reported that the essence of the complaint is an indication of a violation of the rights of museums under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (restriction of access to justice due to the refusal of the Dutch judicial system to appoint legal representatives for museums and lack of impartiality on the part of the Dutch courts), Article 1 of the Protocol 1 to the ECHR (unreasonable interference by Ukraine and the Netherlands in the exercise by museums of their property rights), Article 18 (purely political motive for Ukraine’s actions to return exhibits to its territory) and Article 13 (lack of accessible means for museums to protect their property rights from illegal actions and decisions of Ukraine).
““The museum’s complaint has been accepted by the court for consideration, a balanced and objective approach from the ECtHR to the study of serious violations of the rights of museums is expected,” the Tavrida museum told the agency.
Four Crimean museums — the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve (which later became part of the East Crimean Museum), the Central Museum of Taurida, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Tauride Chersonese — sent the exhibition «Crimea — Golden» in 2013 to Bonn, and then to Amsterdam island in the Black Sea.» After the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, the Netherlands faced the question of who should return the collection to. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal decided on October 26, 2021 that the collection of Scythian gold should be transferred to Ukraine. In January 2022, the museums of Crimea sent a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, but it upheld the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to transfer the collection to Ukraine. In November 2023, the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam confirmed that it had transferred the collection to Kiev.