Combaterea traficului ilicit și a spălării bunurilor culturale în spațiul judiciar european – jurisprudența operațiunii judiciare „Aurul dacic” – In memoriam dr. Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

The paper analyzes the legal framework, the criminal patterns and the effective legal instruments used by the Romanian judicial authorities to sanction the laundering of the criminal proceeds resulting from the illicit traffic in cultural goods and the recovery of artefacts that are emblematic for the Romanian cultural heritage. The study highlights the importance of achieving a consistent jurisprudence, the relevance of specialized judicial bodies, as well as the significance of the role of international judicial cooperation, through EUROJUST, EUROPOL, INTERPOL, for the purpose of sanctioning the traffic and in the recovery of stolen and recycled goods: spiral bracelet hoards, gold monetary hoards and Lex municipalis Troesmensium plates. The investigative methodology and jurisprudence analyzed indicate the effective tools for the full recovery of emblematic cultural assets lost by the national cultural heritage, in the period 1996–2007, in a difficult internal and external context.