US Judge Denies Sotheby’s Motion to Dismiss Statue Case

April 1, 2013
By Kate Bartlett
The Cambodia Daily

Cambodia’s lawsuit against auction house Sotheby’s over a 10th century sandstone statue has been given the go-ahead by a U.S. judge who on Thursday denied Sotheby’s motion to dismiss the case.

In April, at the Cambodian government’s request, the U.S. State Department moved to seize the statue from Sotheby’s, which had intended to put the $3 million piece up for auction, on the grounds that it was looted from Prasat Chen temple at Koh Ker in Preah Vihear province during the turbulent 1970s.