The scandal that emerged regarding the centuries-old gilded Orthodox icon which the Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency gave to Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister is of “global proportions” and Bosnia must now show that it is a serious country and return it in good condition, the head of the Centre for the Fight against Trafficking in Art, Dzenan Jusufovic, told N1 on Thursday.
After Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of BiH’s Presidency, gave Russia’s Sergey Lavrov the 300-year-old gilded icon last week, the Ukrainian Embassy in Sarajevo sent a note to the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for detailed information on the origin of what it suspects is a piece of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
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Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office has meanwhile launched an investigation into the matter, and Russia returned the icon via Bosnia’s Embassy there until the matter is resolved. The icon is expected to arrive in BiH in the coming days.
“I think that Russia is not a frivolous country and would not make such a move, to return that controversial icon to the BiH Embassy, so that the icon would end up in the territory where it last appeared,” Jusufovic said, explaining that trade in cultural artifacts is directly related to criminal organizations.
“For this reason, the UN Security Council has adopted Resolution 2199 (in 2015) and Resolution 2347 (in 2017), on preventing and banning the illegal trade in cultural goods and linking these crimes to terrorism financing,” he added.
Also, in 2018, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed resolution 73/130, which is not binding but is a recommendation to all states to form specialized police units to prevent crime involving artwork, he said.
“No work of unknown origin should have been allowed on the territory of BiH,” Jusufovic stressed, adding that Dodik has now found himself in a “unique” situation.
“This is not a story for the Balkans, it is a story of global proportions,” he said.
Bosnia must now show that it is a serious state, he said.
“For six years we have been preparing for this and similar situations, when something valuable that is being searched for is found on the territory of BiH. Judges, prosecutors, border police and customs participated in training by the Anti-Smuggling Center, along with training with the French Embassy, OSCE, etc. We have experts in BiH and now we need to put together a team of people who will take it (the icon) over,” he explained.
The icon should now be taken to a museum or gallery and Bosnia has the obligation to keep it in good condition and eventually return it, he said.
“Whatever happens to that piece of art, we will be responsible for it,” he stressed.
