Romanian Court Orders Artworks Returned to Son of Former Dictator

BUCHAREST—A Romanian court has ordered the country's National Art Museum to return a number of works to Valentin Ceausescu, the son of former dicator Nicolae Ceausescu, the Associated Press reports. The works originally belonged to Valentin's late brother, Nicu, and were confiscated during the 1989 anti-communist revolt.

As a Communist party official, Nicu was arrested during the uprising that toppled his father from power. He was charged with the deaths of 89 people in the city of Sibiu and served three years of a 20-year prison term before being released on the grounds of poor health in November 1993. He filed the lawsuit in 1996, not long before his death.

"I hope they will hand the works back, but I am not entirely optimistic," he said at the time. The collection includes paintings and sculptures by a number of famous Romanian artists, among them Theodor Pallady, Corneliu Baba, and Nicolae Tonitza.