Bulgaria asks Greece to return medieval plates

SOFIA, July 12 (Reuters) Bulgaria has asked Greece to return nine medieval silver plates that were smuggled out of the Balkan country and are now on display in Greek museums, Bulgarian prosecutors said today.

The plates, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries and which are decorated with gold, were illegally excavated in Bulgaria in the 1990s and smuggled into neighbouring Greece, they said.

''We have categorical proof that the plates are in three Greek museums -- two of them in Thessaloniki and one in Athens,'' said prosecutor Kamen Mihov.

''We expect the Greek side to show understanding and give the plates back, as Greece itself has suffered a lot from smuggling of antiquities and relics,'' Mihov said.

Apart from the nine in Greece, there were four others in Britain, Mihov said. Bulgarian prosecutors would soon approach British authorities for cooperation in returning those too, he added.

Bulgaria, once a strategic bridge between Asia and western Europe, is home to archaeological treasures from many civilisations going back to the 4th millennium BC.

Illegal excavation and smuggling of artefacts have boomed in Bulgaria since communism collapsed in 1989 and state control over archaeological sites weakened and incomes fell dramatically.

Reuters AM VV2056