HUMAN REMAINS INSIDE STATUE
Holthuis said the Buddhist statue carries the human remains of an identifiable person, who is 1,000 years old.
"The statue is a casket around the human remains of a person, and the Buddha statue is so much entangled with the corpse that one cannot be separated from the other. Eventually the leading part in this case is not the Buddhist art, but the human remains of the person that is in there," said Holthuis.
"According to the Dutch Burial and Cremation Act of 1991 and the interpretation of our Minister of Justice at that time, nobody can own a corpse. Nobody can therefore own this statue even if it is acquired in good faith. According to Dutch law, the family can claim the statue back. If the family cannot, then the caretaker can," he added.
The Chinese villagers have hundred years old genealogy records that refer to the origin of Zhanggong Patriarch by its full Chinese name, and the records show that it has been worshipped at Puzhao temple in Yangchun village from the Song dynasty (960-1279) to the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). The Chinese characters on these documents are consistent with those on the praying mat stolen along with the statue.
"This genealogy is the interesting and unique thing in this case that proves Zhang Gong was related to the village temple and the villagers have been looking after their statue for a very long time. A link can be made between the village clan and this statue, and with the fact that the villagers have always worshiped this statue, they have the legal interest to claim back this statue," argued Holthuis.
WHAT NEXT?
"We sued three parties, Oscar van Overeem and his two companies registered at the same address, because we do not know whether he bought it through his company or privately," said Holthuis.
After the statement of claims is filed in court, the defendant normally has six weeks to prepare his statement of defense. He can ask an extension of another six weeks, and then again another extension with the approval of the other party.
The court might set a hearing and see whether they need additional information or whether they can already, after the hearing, take a decision. Another round of statements is still possible before the judge takes any decision and both parties can appeal.
"In Dutch legal proceedings, the judge lets the parties make arguments and eventually takes a decision on that basis although he can ask questions during the hearing and decide that one party shall give specific evidence," Holthuis said.
"The villagers deserve that we do our very best and we hope Master Zhang Gong can return to his usual resting place," he said.
