Sweden refuses to return Łaski's Statute looted in Poland in 17th century

In a written response to Söder, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde quoted a "restrictive practice regarding returning of spoils of war, followed by a majority of countries". "This approach is characteristic not only of Sweden. Spoils of war from the 17th century are legitimate conquests in accordance with the international law of that period," she argued.

Linde added that "the return of cultural-historical objects can generally be complex and it can also in some cases be difficult to determine which state or natural person the object would be handed over to".

The document known as Łaski's Statute was looted during the Swedish Deluge - Sweden's conquest of Poland of 1655-1660. In 2016, the statutes were added to UNESCO Memory of the World List.

Łaski's Statutes were named after Chancellor and Primate Jan Łaski, who consolidated nearly all the legislation that had earlier appeared in the Polish Crown.

Łaski's Statute is currently a part of the collection of Uppsala University. In mid-July, Sweden Democrats right-wing MP Björn Olof Söder proposed to return the document to Poland.

He argued the statute has a great historic importance for the Poles and praised the neighbouring country's support for Sweden and Finland's NATO accession. Polish parliament was one the first to ratify the latest NATO expansion plans.

Söder stressed that only two copies of the statutes are known to still exist, with one being kept in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, and the other in Uppsala, "after it was stolen by the Swedes in the 17th century aloong with other priceless treasures of Polish culture".

The MP also said the special significance of Łaski's Statute derives from the fact it was the first codification of law in the Kingdom of Poland, and the document's printing of 1506 was the first one in the country to include illustrations.