Casting further doubt on the practical possibility of using the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to recover cultural artifacts, the U.S. Government has at long last weighed in on the Chabad plaintiffs’ request for contempt sanctions against the Russian defendants, defendants who have defied for more than two years a judgment to return the library of the late Menachem Schneerson. Rightly or wrongly, this is another example of the waning utility of the FSIA to seek restitution of works held abroad, and does not bode well for the ongoing embargo by Russian museums against cultural artifact loans to the United States.
U.S. Asks Court Not to Sanction Russian Defendants in Chabad Library Case—What Now?
Topics: Russian art embargo, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Menachem Scnheerson, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad, Art Law Report
Russian Art Embargo News: Chabad Negotiations Over Russian Library Fail, Renewed Request for Contempt Sought
After months of inactivity and intimations of a possible settlement, the Chabad plaintiffs seeking the return of the Schneerson library have had enough, and have renewed their request to the District Court to sanction the defendants who have not complied with prior orders to return the library.
Topics: Alexander Avdeyev, Russian art embargo, sanctions, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Acts, Menachem Scnheerson, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, contempt, Chabad