ATHENS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 15 ancient Greek artifacts were to be returned to Greece from Switzerland following a court ruling, the Greek culture and sports ministry said on Thursday.
The items were confiscated by authorities in Geneva in the context of criminal proceedings against a well-known antiquities dealer, the ministry said in a press release.
A Swiss local court ruled in July 2022 that they were products of illegal trafficking and should be returned to Greece, it added.
The artifacts date back to prehistoric times and the Roman period. Among them are figurines, clay and copper vessels, a gold diadem with laurel leaves, a torso of a nude young man, a bronze statuette of an athlete, a pair of bronze anklets and a silver coin.
The repatriation of cultural relics that have been removed illegally or through procedures of questionable legality is dictated by international conventions, but is also a moral obligation between peoples in respect of common global cultural heritage, said Lina Mendoni, Greek minister of culture and sports. ■
