米、略奪品３０点をカンボジアに返還　クメール王朝の神像も

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米国は８日、カンボジアから略奪され数十年にわたり世界中で違法に売買されてきた古代遺物や美術品３０点を同国に返還した。クメール王朝の王都から盗まれたものもあった。（写真はアンコールワット。資料写真）
　報道陣が見守る中、ニューヨーク南部地区の連邦検事ダミアン・ウィリアムズ氏が、略奪品をカンボジア大使に引き渡した。
　ウィリアムズ氏によると、今回返還された遺物にはクジャクの背に乗ったヒンズー教の神「スカンダ」の像や、ヒンズー教の神「ガネーシャ」の像などが含まれる。共に１０世紀のもので、有名なアンコールワットから８０キロ離れた場所に位置するクメール王朝の王都コーケーから盗まれたという。
　３０点の年代は青銅器時代から１２世紀までさまざまだ。
　連邦地検は、カンボジアでは１９７０年代の内戦から数十年にわたり、クメール王朝の神像や美術品が多数密輸され、タイ・バンコクの美術商に持ち込まれたとしている。タイからアジア、欧州、米国のコレクターや実業家だけではなく博物館にも違法に輸出された。
　ニューヨークの連邦地検は多数の略奪品の返還に携わっており、２０２０年夏から２１年末までに７００点以上の遺物がカンボジア、インド、パキスタン、エジプト、イラク、ギリシャ、イタリアなど１４か国に返還された。
　 ２０２１年には米国の収集家マイケル・スタインハート氏（８０）が、過去数十年間に世界各地から盗まれた７０００万ドル（約９４億円）相当の古美術品約１８０点を、米政府との合意に基づき返還した。スタインハート氏は米司法当局との取引で訴追を免れたが、今後、合法的な美術品市場を通じた美術品の入手が禁じられた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/10-13:55）

The United States on Monday returned 30 stolen works of art and antiquities to Cambodia that had been looted from the southeast Asian nation, including from an ancient Khmer city, and illegally trafficked around the world for decades.
Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams officially handed over the looted antiquities to Cambodia's ambassador to the United States, Keo Chhea, in front of press.
We celebrate the return of Cambodia's cultural heritage to the Cambodian people, and reaffirm our commitment to reducing the illicit trafficking of art and antiquities, Williams said.
Among the 30 works was a 10th-century sculpture of the Hindu deity Skanda, seated on a peacock, as well as a 10th-century sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesha. Both were stolen from Koh Ker, the ancient Khmer capital located 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the renowned temples of Angkor, Williams's office said in a statement.
The antiquities, which range from the Bronze Age to the 12th century, had been stolen along with thousands of others during the wars in Cambodia in the 1970s and when the country reopened in the 1990s.
The federal prosecutor's office said that thousands of Khmer statues and sculptures that were trafficked out of Cambodia over the course of decades to antique dealers in Bangkok, before being illegally exported to collectors, businessmen and even museums in Asia, Europe and the United States.
One of the dealers, American Douglas Latchford, was charged in 2019 with art trafficking, but the case was tabled after his death.
The New York prosecutor's office is involved in the restitution of a vast array of works. From the summer of 2020 to the end of 2021, at least 700 pieces have been returned to 14 different countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece and Italy.
In 2021, American collector Michael Steinhardt returned about 180 antiquities stolen from around the world in recent decades as part of a deal with the government.
The pieces had a total value of $70 million.
The agreement between the US judicial system and Steinhardt, 80, allowed him to escape an indictment but prohibits him from acquiring works on the legal art market for the rest of his life.
Angkor, which at 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) is the largest archaeological site in the world, was the capital of the Khmer empire, which lasted from the ninth to 14th centuries.
The site, which recently reopened to tourists after a two-year pandemic-induced closure, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.