Dutch Court To Rule On Crimea's Bid To Disqualify Judge From Scythian Gold Case On Oct 28

A district court in Amsterdam will rule in October on a motion filed by the Crimean authorities in an attempt to recuse the judge from a legal row with Ukraine over the centuries-old Scythian gold

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2020) A district court in Amsterdam will rule in October on a motion filed by the Crimean authorities in an attempt to recuse the judge from a legal row with Ukraine over the centuries-old Scythian gold.

A collection of 2,000 priceless relics from four Crimean museums was put on display in the Dutch capital in February 2014, shortly before a coup in Kiev. After Crimea reunited with Russia, the Dutch museum delayed the artifacts' return until a court determined their ownership.

The latest round of hearings began on Wednesday.

A spokesperson in the Amsterdam court told Sputnik that the court would rule on whether another judge should take over the case on October 28.

The Dutch court ruled in December 2016 that Ukraine should have the gold collection. Crimea challenged the judgment and replaced its legal team.

The court reached an interim decision in July 2019 against Ukraine invoking the 1970 UNESCO convention on illicit trafficking of cultural property and asked both sides of the dispute to present additional information so that it could make the final judgment.