Ulaanbaatar, December 10, 2025 /MONTSAME/. A handover ceremony for the return to Mongolia of dinosaur fossils confiscated by law enforcement authorities of the French Republic in 2013 and 2015 was held in Paris on December 8, 2025.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth (MCSTY), the fossils were discovered during inspections of a vessel that had arrived in France from Brazil and at the premises of the company “Creazaurus,” which led to the opening of a criminal investigation in 2015. In 2016, the French side submitted a request for mutual legal assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Mongolia. In response, Mongolia carried out the necessary investigation and informed France that the Tarbosaurus bataar specimen seized in Lyon had originated from Mongolia.

Following years of cooperation among the law enforcement agencies, diplomatic missions, and relevant ministries of Mongolia and France, the Lyon Court of Appeal issued a decision on June 10, 2025, to return 29 sets of dinosaur fossils to Mongolia. This ruling brought to a close a legal process that had lasted more than a decade.

The fossils include scientifically significant and highly valuable specimens such as a Tarbosaurus bataar skeleton, theropod and oviraptorosaur remains, teeth, ribs, jaws, vertebrae, claws, femur and ankle bones, as well as theropod and oviraptorosaur eggs.

Mongolia’s accession to UNESCO’s 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property in 1992, and to the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects in 2024, positively contributed to the repatriation process, participants at the ceremony noted.

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth of Mongolia, Undram Chinbat, and the Minister Delegate for the Budget and Public Accounts of the French Republic, Amélie de Montchalin, and officials from both sides. During the event, Minister Undram expressed gratitude to the institutions and officers of both countries for their efforts to uphold Mongolia’s legal rights and secure the return of the fossils. She emphasized, “The illicit trafficking of cultural property should not undermine the values and dignity of peoples everywhere,” urging all parties to intensify efforts to prevent and combat such crimes. She affirmed that the Ministry stands ready to support further cooperation in this area.

The repatriated dinosaur fossils will be transferred to the Museum of Natural History of Mongolia for detailed scientific study. Some specimens are expected to be displayed in the Paleontology section of the new National Museum of Natural Sciences, scheduled to open in 2026.