「クリミアの財宝」ウクライナに返還　裁判所決定受けオランダ博物館

【キーウＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアによる２０１４年のウクライナ・クリミア半島併合前にオランダの博物館に貸し出されていた考古学的遺物が２７日、ウクライナに返還された。（写真はクリミア半島の墓から見つかった、鹿をかたどった１世紀ごろの黄金のペンダント。オランダのアラード・ピアソン博物館提供〈資料写真〉）
　返還されたのは「スキタイの黄金」と呼ばれる財宝コレクション。２０１４年、オランダ・アムステルダムのアラード・ピアソン博物館に貸し出されていた。
　クリミアの博物館４施設は、コレクションの返還を求めてそれぞれ訴えを起こしていたが、今夏、オランダの裁判所がウクライナへの返還を支持する決定を下した。
　ウクライナ史歴史博物館（ＮＭＨＵ）は「約１０年に及んだ裁判を経て、クリミアの４博物館のコレクションがウクライナに戻ってきた」とのメッセージをホームページに掲載。「（ロシアによるクリミアの）実効支配が終わるまでコレクションはＮＭＨＵで保管される」としている。
　ウクライナの税関当局は、総重量２６９４キロの宝飾品を検査するとしている。コレクションには約２０００年前のものも含まれている。
　ウクライナのロスティスラフ・カランデエフ文化情報相代行は返還を受け「偉大な歴史的勝利」と歓迎。「今日、歴史や伝統、歴史的遺産の保全・保護は非常に重要だ。われわれはまさにそのために戦っている。自らのアイデンティティーと自由のためだ」と述べた。
　一方、ロシア政府報道官は２６日、「コレクションはクリミアに帰属する。クリミアに戻されるべきだ」とコメントした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/28-16:40）

Ancient Crimean gold treasures returned to Kyiv Monday after being stuck in a Dutch museum for nine years, where they were on show when Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.
Ukraine hailed the arrival of the jewels in the midst of the Russian full-scale 2022 invasion as a victory for its identity and freedom.
The Scythian artefacts -- some around 2,000 years old -- were on loan to Amsterdam's Allard Pierson museum when they suddenly were at the centre of a geopolitical crisis following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Years of legal battles ensued, with both Kyiv and Moscow-controlled Crimean museums filing suits that the jewels should be in their hands, before the Dutch Supreme Court ruled this summer they should go to Ukraine.
After almost 10 years of trials, artefacts from four museums of Crimea... returned to Ukraine, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (NMHU) said on its website.
They will be kept in the NMHU until the de-occupation of Crimea, it added.
Their return comes 21 months into Moscow's offensive, and is a symbolic win for Ukraine, which has repeatedly vowed to retake Crimea.
- 'Victim of geopolitical developments' -
Ukraine's customs service said the jewels arrived from Amsterdam by truck, equipped with a temperature maintenance system, in special trunks.
It published a video of the truck entering Kyiv's medieval Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, where it said customs officers will go through the 2,694 kilogrammes (5,900 pounds) of jewels.
Kyiv's culture minister Rostyslav Karandeyev called the return of the artefacts a great historical victory.
The exhibition in the Netherlands covered the history of Ukrainian Crimea. Therefore only the people of Ukraine should own these historical values, he added.
Today, it is very important for us to preserve and protect history, traditions and historical heritage. This is what we are fighting for on the battlefield. For our identity and freedom, he added.
Moscow has insisted that the hundreds of artefacts -- which include a golden helmet -- should be kept in Crimea, territory which it claims as its own.
It belongs to Crimea, it should be there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday in response to the jewels arriving in Ukraine.
The treasures were kept at the Allard Pierson museum throughout the legal battles, awaiting a ruling.
In June, the Netherlands' top court ruled they should be handed to Ukraine, and not to the four Crimean museums.
This was a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments, Allard Pierson director Els van der Plas said on the museum's website.
She said that, during the legal battles, the museum focused on safely storing the artefacts until the time came to return them to their rightful owner.
We are pleased that clarity has emerged and that they have now been returned, she added.