My Etape du Tour 2012

I opted for Acte 2, the route from Pau to Bagneres de Luchon in the Pyrenees.

Four big climbs, the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde were involved.  4,696 riders started and 3,829 reached the finish line, so a much lower rate of attrition than Issoire to St Flour last year.  However, like last year, the weather left a little to be desired.  It was pleasant enough in Pau for the start but by the time I was half way up the Aubisque the persistent drizzle had started and every descent, save the lower part of the one into the finish, was done on wet roads in poor visibility.  I tend to descend in such conditions not that much faster than I ascend - a slight exaggeration but I pass people on the way up never on the way down -and my better 'classement grimpeur' compared to my 'classement reel' reflects this.

Happily I had done a ride in the foothills of the Pyrenees last Thursday when the sun shone brightly.

After bad experiences with tyre blowouts in the Spring I was apprehensive of mechanicals but my only problem was that a stone flung up from the road was the perfect size to lodge into my pedal in such a way as to jam it.  I had several people at the food stop at St Marie de Campan trying to force my foot off a jammed pedal, in a way that migiht have been comical had I not been so cold, wet and anxious to begin the next climb to restore my body temperature.  Thereafter I warmed and the rain relented and I probably had my best climb up the wonderful Peyresourde reversing the final part of the first etape I did, in baking heat, in 2007.

So I have now done six, 3 in the heat and 3 in the rain.  The difference this year is I did not really anticipate the conditions and did not dress appropriately.  I would have given the weight equivalent in gold for long fingered gloves (left in my hotel room in Pau) whilst I was coming down off the Tourmalet; a descent that I note from the on line resource Strava took me over 32 minutes compared to under 18 minutes taken by one Kenny Nijssen on the same morning.  Whether he slowed as I did for the mud strewn all the way across the road at La Mongie intrigues me.

Even if these things seem less than wholly pleasurable at the time, I am always glad after the even that I took part.  I reckon 289th in my age category is creditable enough along with being in the top third of climbers of any age.

U.S. Renews MoU Import Controls on Cultural Heritage From Cyprus

Byzantine glass lamp.  U.S. State Dept.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Treasury Department today published notice of America's extension of import controls governing archaeological and ethnological materials from Cyprus.

The decision renews a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Cyprus, which serves to protect cultural patrimony in jeopardy from pillage under the terms of the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA).  The CPIA implements the1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.  Import protections granted under a Memorandum of Understanding--also known as a bilateral agreement--last for five years and may be renewed.

The import restrictions forbid designated cultural objects from importation into the United States unless authorized by permit.  Categories of cultural property protected under the renewed import protections include archaeological objects such as ceramics, sculpture, architecture, jewelry and coins from pre-classical and classical periods.  Other import controls regulate ecclesiastical and ritual ethnological materials such as liturgical crosses, painted icons, glass church lamps, and mosaics from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods.

Comments submitted earlier this year to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) in support and opposition to renewing import controls may be found here.

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

No Arrests Announced as ICE Officials Seize and Send Cultural Objects to Peru

ICE: Artifact returned to Peru on July 12.

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported no arrests or indictments during a repatriation ceremony yesterday that returned stolen and smuggled cultural objects to Peru. 

In a press statement, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said that it mounted an “undercover Internet operation” and recovered the artifacts “in five separate investigations in . . .  New York; West Virginia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Austin and Houston, Texas.”  HSI concluded that the objects were illegally imported into the United States in violation of U.S. customs laws after having been illegally removed from Peru.

ICE agent watching over a monstrance.

With assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice and INTERPOL, HSI seized and sent to Peru nine 18th century religious paintings, pre-Columbian pottery, an Andean textile, a monstrance, a Moche jar, and a tumi blade.

ICE Director John Morton observed that "[t]he plundering of cultural property is one of the oldest forms of organized cross-border crime and has become a world-wide phenomenon that transcends frontiers.” Deputy Attorney General James Cole added, "Like other criminal acts, cultural property crimes are borderless and require a coordinated law enforcement response among countries.... [The objects] were stolen by those whose selfish acts and greed sought to deprive a people and the public of their cultural treasures."

No mention was made during Thursday's public ceremony held in Washington, DC of any arrests, grand jury investigations, indictments, or continued law enforcement probes into the alleged criminal activity.  HSI's seize and send policy has been critiqued because of its disproportionate focus on the repatriation of cultural objects over needed efforts to deter transnational cultural heritage crime by prosecuting antiquities traffickers when they violate U.S. law.

HSI outlined details of its investigation in its press statement:

“Of the objects returned July 12, two of the Cusco oil paintings – Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and Virgin and Child – were sold at an auction house in Austin. Seven other Peruvian antique paintings were being sold from a Houston gallery. The pre-Columbian Chimu-Inca whistling pot and Andean textile were being sold on eBay. In an undercover Internet operation, HSI special agents in West Virginia targeted sellers of illicit pre-Columbian artifacts operating from this Internet site. The monstrance was listed for sale at Christie's auction house in New York and HSI special agents discovered it was consigned by an art collector associated with museums in Puerto Rico and Denver. HSI's investigation revealed that the monstrance had been stolen from Saint Stephen the Martyr, a small Catholic church in Yaurisque, located in the Cusco region of Peru. The Moche ceramic jar and the bronze ceremonial knife were consigned by an estate trust in order to be sold at an auction house in Madison, N.J., and necessitated grand jury subpoenas issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware.”

Assistant United States Attorney David Hall from the Delaware U.S. Attorney's Office was responsible for investigating two of the Cusco school paintings involved in the case, according to a statement released by that office.  An image of one of the paintings appears at right.  Hall is a 2010 SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone) Beacon Award winner.

The repatriation ceremony comes one month after the United States renewed import controls covering Peruvian cultural property determined to be in jeopardy from plunder.

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Rubin v. Iran Update: Illinois District Court Gets Case Back Following Supreme Court's Rejection of Appeal -- U.S. Files Amicus Brief in First Circuit Supporting Museums

The case of Jenny Rubin, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran has been restarted in federal district court in Illinois (docket 03-cv-9370).  That is because the United States Supreme Court on June 25 declined to hear the Rubin plaintiffs' request to review the Seventh Circuit decision, which ruled against them. Justices Antonin Scalia and Elena Kagan did not participate in the decision.

Rubin and the other plaintiffs are trying to recover a court-awarded money judgment against Iran for that nation's sponsorship of a deadly terrorist attack that harmed the parties.  They wish to acquire Persian artifacts located at Chicago's Field Museum and the University of Chicago in order execute the judgment. The case moved from the federal district court in northern Illinois to the circuit court of appeals.  The case was to be sent back to the district court by the appeals court, but the Rubin plaintiffs sought review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has now returned the case to the district court, where a status hearing  is scheduled for July 18 at 3:00 p.m.

[UPDATE July 18, 2012:  The Illinois district court held a status hearing and wrote: " The court heard arguments on the competing discovery plans submitted by the parties back on August 5, 2011.  The court will review and consider other orders and documents identified by the parties in open court and issue an order by August 3, 2012, detailing its discovery plan. Parties will then be invited to submit objections to the court's plan, if any, by August 10, 2012.]

In a companion case now in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the same parties seek to acquire Persian artifacts held at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston and at Harvard.  The United States filed an amicus brief (friend of the court brief) on June 7 in support of the MFA, the Harvard museums, and Iran.

Federal lawyers argue two points in their brief to the First Circuit.  They say that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) does not authorize the attachment of property not owned by a terrorist state.  Second, the government asserts that Iranian property cannot be “contested” within the meaning of the Iranian Assets Control Regulations because "Iran itself has not articulated any claim to the property in question."

The government writes:
"The United States emphatically condemns the act of terrorism that grievously injured the plaintiffs, and has deep sympathy for their suffering. The United States remains committed to disrupting terrorist financing and to aggressively pursuing those responsible for committing terrorist acts against U.S. nationals. In addition, however, the United States has a strong interest in ensuring that courts properly interpret TRIA’s scope. Normally, unless a person obtains a license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), that person is barred from attaching assets that are blocked under various sanctions programs, such as the Iranian Assets Control Regulations."

The lawyers add:
"The district court found that Iran does not, in fact, own the assets in question. The United States takes no position on the question of ownership. If this Court affirms the district court’s holding, however, that ruling will also preclude attachment of the assets under TRIA. TRIA does not, as plaintiffs contend, permit them to attach the artifacts possessed by the Museums if those assets are not owned by Iran."

The government concludes that the court  "should hold that the Museums’ artifacts cannot be attached under TRIA unless the plaintiffs establish that Iran owns the artifacts. Additionally, if the Court reaches the issue, it should hold that an asset is not 'contested' for purposes of [the Iranian Assets Control Regulations] unless Iran itself is claiming an interest in the asset."

Photo by Asana Mashouf.  Creative Commons.

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Masters Race Dunsfold 4th July 2012

It was the duty turn of Imperial Racing at Dunsfold aerodrome last night for the Surrey League Masters Race.  With the Collins family there it was like a throw back (or forward) to the Winter Series.  The rain was coming down as we signed on but fortunately it all but stopped by start time leaving an overcast sky with a southerly wind.  It may have drizzled but once you get going you do not notice it   I had a good race (not in the result which was 16th out of 17 finishers) but I made it into the early break and 3 of us were away for well over a lap.  One strong rider Seamus Kelly of Kingston Wheelers, attacked and got away on the first time down the back straight.  A rider in BMC kit then jumped after him as we got to the bend and I just stuck to his wheel.  Once we were away from the bunch I recovered sufficiently that we could do a two-up to Seamus, but he was fast and not waiting for us so it took us a half lap to catch up.  We then did a 3 up effort for a further half lap but Seamus was doing most of the work and at the end of lap 2 just after I had done a token turn he powered away.  When I looked back and saw we were dropping the BMC man, who had towed me up, I felt it was only sensible to stick with him.  We had a go at a 2 up to catch Seamus for a second time but it didn't work.  The bunch reappeared (photo shows us just before the catch) but then eased when they got to us and just sat behind us.  Seamus built up a gap again and half a lap later the 2^nd cats jumped off to join him and stayed convincingly ahead until the finish.

Nice to be involved in a little more of the action than usual and I am left wondering if I could have made more of it with better tactics.  Two age grouped races are run simultaneously at Dunsfold and so with both Seamus and Chris in the younger age group than me..if only.

Weiss Pleads Guilty to Attempted Possession Charges in New York - State Criminal Law Applied Successfully in Cultural Property Case

Dr. Arnold Peter Weiss, originally charged with a felony, pleaded guilty today in a New York state court to misdemeanor counts of attempted criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree. Chasing Aphrodite has more on the case, and they report that Weiss's arrest for possessing stolen ancient coins turned into convictions for possessing forged coins Weiss believed to be real.

Weiss' plea agreement with the prosecutor, which was accepted by the court, calls for a sentence of community service, fines of $3000, and an order to write an essay about responsible coin collecting.  Other coins in Weiss' possession are to be forfeited.  Court records report that sentencing is scheduled for September 17.

Authorities charged the Rhode Island hand surgeon in January 2012 with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property over $50,000. They arrested Weiss and seized what Weiss and authorities then believed were ancient Greek coins originating from Italy.  The coins were to be sold at the International Numismatic Convention taking place in Manhattan.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos handled the case.  He is the author of Thieves of Baghdad, which describes his and others' efforts to retrieve artifacts from Iraq's national museum after its looting in 2003. Bogdanos employed a scanning electron microscope to determine that three coins, which were the subject of the case, were in fact forgeries and not authentic ancient coins.  Nevertheless, Weiss thought that the coins were authentic and that they were stolen from Italy, subjecting him to accountability for an "attempt" crime.

The convictions for attempted criminal possession will have to be studied in the coming weeks.  That is because the convictions represent a breakthrough for the successful application of state criminal laws, as opposed to federal criminal laws alone, to combat international cultural property trafficking.  Fakes and forgeries of antiquities, ancient coins, and other cultural property are found in the illicit market along with authentic trafficked artifacts, so today's courtroom result is no less significant.

Indeed, all fifty states have receiving stolen property laws on the books, which can be applied in cases where a person is in criminal possession of stolen cultural property.  The states also have "attempt" laws, which would cover a person's attempt to possess stolen cultural property or possession of forged cultural property believed to be authentic.  Beyond these statutes, the states maintain consumer protection laws with applicable penalties to guard against the appearance of fraudulent and stolen items in the marketplace.  The states also have nonprofit enforcement statutes that may be applied to specific cultural institutions or boards of directors that acquire illegal art, archaeological finds, or ethnological artifacts.

It should be noted that there is no request or court order to destroy the Weiss coins that were discovered to be fakes.  Meanwhile, sources indicate that the investigation in this case is of a continuing nature.

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Federal Attorneys and Sotheby's Agree to Keep Designated Information Confidential in U.S. v. A 10th Century Cambodian Sandstone Sculpture

Image courtesy of officeclipart.com. 

Attorneys for both Sotheby's and the United States have signed a stipulation dated June 29 to keep designated information confidential.  Published on July 2 in the forfeiture case of United States Of America v. A 10th Century Cambodian Sandstone Sculpture, Currently Located at Sotheby's, the stipulation says that relevant documents can be kept secret in pleadings and hearings if the information reveals Sotheby's:

• potential, current, or past clients,
• any consignment agreements or sales,
• proprietary aspects of the auction house's compliance program, and/or
• its sales strategies.

The stipulation allows Sotheby's to mark such information "CONFIDENTIAL," and the government may challenge the designation.

Specific documents that are to be kept confidential include a "Family Agreement" and a "Sales Agreement for Works of Art" supplied by Decia Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa, the reported consignor of the Cambodian sculpture to Sotheby's.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the United States may request that Sotheby's produce non-confidential documents with confidential information redacted.  At the conclusion of the case, secret information shall be returned or destroyed according to the terms of the stipulation.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York petitioned a federal district court in April to seize and forfeit the temple statue, alleging that it was "illicitly removed from the Prasat Chen Temple at the historic and archeological site of Koh Ker, Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia."  Sotheby's filed a motion to dismiss the claim in June.  A hearing on the motion is currently scheduled for September 27.

Given that the forfeiture case is a public matter launched by federal officials and not a lawsuit between private parties; given that the case involves alleged violations of the federal customs law rather than violations of terms of a private contract; and given that compliance methods with respect to public laws on import and/or penal matters are at issue in the case as opposed to trade secrets, the stipulation will perhaps be the subject of debate by observers of the case.

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com
(c) Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC