Judge nixes extradition in case of painting looted by Nazis

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has turned down an extradition request from Poland for a Russian art dealer living in New York.

The judge on Monday rejected the request to extradite Alexander Khochinskiy. He faces charges in Poland accusing him of refusing to turn over an 18th-century painting taken from a Polish museum by the Nazis during World War II.

The art dealer was arrested at his Manhattan apartment in February at the request of Polish authorities. They say he has refused to turn over "Girl with a Dove," a 1754 oil painting by Antoine Pesne.

The art dealer says his father came home from the war with the painting. He says he inherited it when his father died and he's the rightful owner.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4940c953405249d1a45db76db739ecaa/judge-nixes-extradition-case-painting-looted-nazis

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This is so wrong. So many cases like this. His dad was a looter!

[PatrickforO]

1. Hmm. No. Sorry. The rightful owner is the family it was stolen from by Hitler's thugs.

[cstanleytech]

4. No argument the painting should be returned but thats not a solid basis for extradition

unless of course they can prove that he knew it was stolen before he got his hands on it and even then they might not be able to extradite him unless he was actually on polish soil and broke a law while on it.

[okojo]

7. The Nazis were the great looters of European Art, but the Russians and American Soldiers looted..

The Red Army liberated/looted many works of Art, most famously the Schilemanns’s findings in Greece in trying to find the lost city of Troy... However, many individual soldiers from all countries in WW2 looted works of art. One reason that a family cleaning out their grandfather’s attic in Texas or somewhere in the US, will come up with some priceless work..

Hopefully, the work of art should be returned..

One of the great pilferers of Nazi Germany, besides Hermann Goering, was Hans Frank, the monster who ran Generalgouvernement in Poland. When he was captured in 1945, he had some of the most priceless works of European Art in his house he was staying in Bavaria, and he took the famous Leonardo Da Vinci’s Lady with Ermine painting from a Polish Prince..

[yeoman6987]

2. Thank goodness for this judge.

Good ruling.

[Adrahil]

3. Huh? nt

[yeoman6987]

6. I don't want him going to jail

Over an item he inherited from his family. Do you?

[Adrahil]

10. I'd say it depends upon the details of the case.

If he knowingly remained in custody of a looted piece of art, knowing it was looted, I'd say it is possible he committed a crime. At the least, he must forfeit the art.

[doxyluv13]

5. The judge decided correctly based on the facts of the case...

The Polish government's position is that he knowingly committed the crime of receiving stolen property when he inherited the painting. This is absurd and the judge was right not to incarcerate Khochinskiy based on an absurdity.

[okojo]

8. The Painting should be returned, or it should be refused to be on the market..

As long as the Polish Government has a trail of ownership and a history of the painting, it should go back to Poland.. Paintings like this don’t fall out of the sky and fall into people’s laps, they are looted, especially during chaotic times.

[cstanleytech]

9. doxyluv13 didnt say the painting shouldnt be returned.

If I was the Polish government though I would just offer the guy some money, after all the important thing is to get the painting back.

[Sunlei]

12. nazis kept records of everything they looted, of course the nazi bookkeepers pocketed some as well.

[Sunlei]

11. one room of nazi loot in france, photo taken by nazis

[Sunlei]

13. the salt mines in berlin filled with nazi loot taken from german Jewish people, most owners killed

[okojo]

14. No, that is not what entails the Merkers Mine Photo

The photos of the Merkers Mine in Thuringia, was discovered by the US 9th Division of the Third Army in April 1945. It is the Reichsbank Gold Reserves. The German Government took a huge amount of gold from Shoah (Holocaust) victims, but this is the photo of the entire Reichbanks gold reserves, whether gold from Holocaust victims was melted into ingots and bars or not...