US refused to give Poland Russian art dealer

A court in New York rejected a request from Warsaw to extradite Russian art dealer Alexander Khochinsky to Poland. In a hearing on Monday, federal judge Jed Rakoff ruled that there was no reason for the extradition of an art dealer to the United States.

Polish authorities accuse 64-year-old Khochinski of illegally possessing a painting by 1754th-century artist Antoine Pin “Girl with a Dove” (XNUMX), which was kept in a Poznan museum before World War II.

In 1943, this picture was kidnapped by the Nazis, and two years later it was discovered by the Red Army, and it was taken to the store in the territory of the former USSR.

Khochinsky's picture was inherited from his father. The Russian back in 2010 year, having learned that Poland considers the cloth stolen, offered her to buy it. February 26 Khochinsky was arrested in New York at the request of the Polish authorities. He was later released on bail of one hundred thousand dollars.

Poland is seeking the extradition of art-dilar on the grounds that he refuses to return the painting. Khochinsky, as his lawyers reported earlier, cannot do this without obtaining permission from the Ministry of Culture of Russia. In addition, he believes that Poland should offer him fair compensation, as he owns the picture on a completely legitimate basis.