Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan transfers the copyright of Rembrandt worth €150 million to the Ministry of Culture

On May 27, 2014, the Prosecutor General's Office conducted an investigation in the criminal case initiated by the investigative department of Yakkasaray district against K. Y. under article 170 (causing material damage through fraud or breach of trust) of the Criminal Code.

The investigation established that on August 28, 2008, the citizen A. P. sold to a friend K. J. a copyright of the artist Rembrandt Van Rijn for $50,000, which in turn illegally exported the picture through his friend R. F. outside the republic.

In 2014-2018, the criminal case was repeatedly suspended and terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti, as well as due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

After that, A.P. filed a statement and appealed to the Prosecutor General, disagreeing with the decisions taken.

In compliance with the Prosecutor General’s instruction, this criminal case was requested from the police department of Tashkent and on June 4, 2018, was transferred to the proceeding department for investigation of particularly serious crimes at the General Prosecutor’s Office.

As a result of the investigative-operational activities carried out by the Directorate for investigation of particularly serious crimes on June 14, 2018, this crime was solved – the copyright of Rembrandt was found.

Following the results of the investigation, K. J. and R. F. were charged with a crime under Articles 182 Part 2 (violation of customs legislation) and 238 Part 2 (perjury) of the Criminal Code. On September 14, 2018, the criminal case with an indictment was sent to court.

According to the verdict of the Yakkasaray district criminal court of November 21, 2018, K. Y. and R. F. were found guilty, and the picture reversed into the state revenue.

In compliance with the court of appeal of the Tashkent city court on criminal proceedings, dated January 18, 2019, the judgment of the court was upheld.

In order to ensure the execution of the court sentence, on February 8, 2018, the department of the Bureau of Compulsory Execution of Yashnabad District under the General Prosecutor's Office adopted a resolution on initiating enforcement proceedings.

According to a letter of the BCE department of Yashnabad district under the General Prosecutor’s Office on March 13 of this year, the copyright of the artist Rembrandt Van Rijn was transferred to the responsible persons of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan in accordance with the procedural rules in the established commission.

The Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan reported that the work is estimated from 8-15 million to 150 million euros at auctions in Europe.