US court blocks Russian extradition to Poland in case of Nazi art stolen

Russian art dealer Alexander Khochinsky will not be extradited to Poland from the United States. This decision was made by a federal judge in New York. The Russian is accused of illegally acquiring an 18th-century painting belonging to Poland and taken out of this country by the Nazis during World War II.

The Manhattan District Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed the extradition lawsuit against Alexander Khochinsky, explaining that there was no evidence that the defendant knew that the painting was stolen from Poland when he acquired it. Rakoff considers it proven that Khochinsky inherited the painting and learned about Poland’s claim to it only in 2010, after having openly displayed the painting in his Moscow gallery for many years and reporting it in special catalogs. “This behavior is unusual for those who know that their property is wanted by a foreign government,” Rackoff writes.

At the request of Poland, the American authorities arrested Khochinsky, who now lives in an apartment in Manhattan, in February this year. He was later released on bail of $ 100,000 pending extradition.

Christopher Flood, a lawyer for Khochinsky, welcomed the decision, saying his client “hopes to restore normalcy with his family.” A spokesman for the Manhattan Attorney, Preet Bharara, declined to comment, and the Polish Embassy does not explain the situation.

Antoine Peng - Girl with a Dove

“Girl with a Dove” (Antoine Pesne) - is among 63,000 pieces of art that the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage considers dead during World War II.

According to the Polish authorities, the painting was bought in 1931 by the Museum of Greater Poland in the city of Poznan and was lost during the looting by the Nazis in 1943. The works stolen from the museum were found by soldiers of the Russian army in 1945 and delivered to the Soviet Union. After that, some works were returned to Poland, and the whereabouts of the “Girls with the Dove” remained unknown. Later, Interpol included the picture in the list of stolen goods.

In 2010, Khochinsky contacted the Polish authorities regarding the sale of this painting by him, after he learned that a work of art, it turns out, was stolen from the country. After that, litigation began. In 2012, a judge in Poznan ordered the arrest of Khochinsky.

Khochinsky claims to have inherited the painting from his father, a participant in World War II. The painting hung for many years in their apartment, in Leningrad, and passed to the collector after the death of his father in 1991. However, an unknown employee of the Khochinsky gallery told the curator of the National Museum in Poznan that Khochinsky purchased the canvas at an auction. It seems that despite the decision in New York, the point in this matter has not yet been set.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru