Dutch Jewish family allege bias over refusal to return €20m painting

Restitutions committee members have links to the Stedelijk Museum, which houses the Kandinsky work

A Jewish family, suing for the return of a 20m (18m) painting by Wassily Kandinsky obtained by Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, has accused an official advisory committee of bias after ruling against them.

Lawyers acting for the heirs to Robert Lewenstein, who fled for France in 1940, told an Amsterdam court there was an appearance of partiality and a conflict of interest" within the Netherlands' restitutions committee, which advises on the return of art lost by Jewish families during the second world war.