Buddha statue dispute to be taken to
Netherlands court
Luo Wangshu and Hu Meidong
2015-11-17 ecns
One of the lawyers representing a village in Fujian province in its
quest to win custody of a 1,000-year-old Buddha statue they say was
stolen in 1995 said an appeal would be submitted to a Dutch court
later this month.
The statue contains the remains of a mummified
monk."We have finished the primary investigation and collection of
evidence in Yangchun, Fujian province, in preparation for an appeal
to the court in the Netherlands later this month," said Liu Yang, a
Beijing lawyer specializing in ancient relics.
One key hurdle is proving that the statue is the
same one that was stolen, Liu said.
The lawyers－seven from China and the
Netherlands－are seeking
to reclaim the Buddha statue from its Dutch owner, architect Oscar
van Overeem.
Van Overeem said in a telephone interview with China
Daily in May that he would return the artifact to China. He said he
bought it for 40,000 Dutch guilders ($20,500) in 1996 from a
collector in Amsterdam who had acquired it in Hong Kong.
But residents said that van Overeem's attitude has
changed over the past six months, and he now wants $20 million to
"compensate for the research and preservation of the statue for 20
years".
"We have to go to court," said resident Lin
Yongtuan.
Yangchun residents say this statue is the one that
was stolen from the village in 1995, though van Overeem claims to
have proof it didn't come from there.
China Daily was not able to reach van Overeem on
Monday.
Residents were busy with the observance of rituals
to worship the statue on Monday.
"Although the Buddha statue was stolen in 1995, the
annual ritual of worship was never interrupted," said Lin, one of
the first residents to recognize the Buddha from pictures of
artifacts in a public exhibition.
"When I saw pictures of the statue, I thought it
looked like the one that was stolen from our village," Lin
said.
The statue grabbed global attention in February
after a scan revealed that it contained the mummified remains of a
Buddhist monk. It was part of the Mummy World Exhibition at the
Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, which had planned to
display it until May.
Van Overeem, a private collector, had previously
loaned the piece to the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands. In
the wake of news reports, the Budapest museum returned the relic to
Assen.
In March, after seeing pictures of the statue,
residents of Yangchun pointed out its resemblance to the one that
was stolen in 1995.
Evidence suggesting the stolen statue is the one
shown in Budapest has been presented by the Fujian Administration
of Cultural Heritage.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage said
later that it would communicate with van Overeem in hopes he would
allow the Buddha's return to China.
However, van Overeem said he has proof that the
statue did not come from the village.
He accused the residents of making up the story and
said he could scientifically prove they were wrong and that the
statue did not come from their village. He did admit, however, that
the Buddha came from China. He said it had become a political
football.