WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is opposing a Jewish group’s bid to have civil fines levied against Russia for failing to obey a court order to return its historic books and documents, a dispute that has halted the loan of Russian art works for exhibit in the United States.
In a recent court filing, the Justice Department argued that judicial sanctions against Russia in this case would be contrary to US foreign policy interests and inconsistent with US law.
That stuff doesn't matter when it comes to the you-know-whose.
The Jewish group, Chabad-Lubavitch, based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, has already convinced Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court that it has a valid claim to the tens of thousands of religious books and manuscripts, some up to 500 years old, which record the group’s core teachings and traditions.
Lamberth ruled the records are unlawfully possessed by the Russian State Library and the Russian military archive. And in 2010, he ordered the Russian government to turn them over to the US Embassy in Moscow or to the group’s representative.
Russia, which doesn’t recognize the authority of the US court, has refused. It says the collection is part of Russia’s national heritage.
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In a recent court filing, the Justice Department argued that judicial sanctions against Russia in this case would be contrary to US foreign policy interests and inconsistent with US law.
That stuff doesn't matter when it comes to the you-know-whose.
The Jewish group, Chabad-Lubavitch, based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, has already convinced Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court that it has a valid claim to the tens of thousands of religious books and manuscripts, some up to 500 years old, which record the group’s core teachings and traditions.
Lamberth ruled the records are unlawfully possessed by the Russian State Library and the Russian military archive. And in 2010, he ordered the Russian government to turn them over to the US Embassy in Moscow or to the group’s representative.
Russia, which doesn’t recognize the authority of the US court, has refused. It says the collection is part of Russia’s national heritage.
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"Russia angry over US fines for Jewish collection" Associated Press, January 18, 2013
MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday harshly criticized a US court ruling fining it $50,000 a day for holding onto tens of thousands of religious books and manuscripts stolen from Jews during the Russian revolution and World War II.
Russia’s State Library and the Russian military archive have refused to give up the books, even after a US court ruled that the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch group is the rightful owner. The country says the books are part of its national heritage.
Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court ruled Wednesday that Russia should pay the fine until it complies with his 2010 order to return the collection.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the ruling ‘‘an absolutely unlawful and provocative decision’’ and threatened a tough response if US authorities try to seize Russian property to get the fine.
There are two collections at issue: 12,000 religious books and manuscripts seized during the Bolshevik revolution and the Russian Civil War nearly a century ago; and 25,000 pages of handwritten teachings and other writings of religious leaders stolen by Nazi Germany during World War II, then transferred by the Soviet Red Army as war booty to the Russian State Military Archive.
If we could only get the true history of such events.
If we could only get the true history of such events.
Efforts to get the materials returned date back decades. Mikhail Shvydkoi, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, insisted that Moscow and Washington reached a compromise in the 1990s when Russia pledged to provide public access to the documents.
‘‘Russia made good on all of its promises regarding this issue,’’ he said, adding that the Russian State Library built a special prayer room inside the library to accommodate Jewish pilgrims who come to study the manuscripts.
Oh, then WHAT is the PROBLEM then? Just staff allowed to look for them?
Oh, then WHAT is the PROBLEM then? Just staff allowed to look for them?
Following Lamberth’s 2010 ruling, Russia halted the loan of its art treasures for exhibit in the United States, for fear that they would be seized.
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