Brno - Even 20 years after communism was toppled the issue of restitutions remains a hot topic in the Czech Republic.

Now hundreds of valuable items from chateau Opočno in east Bohemia claimed by a noble family that left Czechoslovakia in 1947 will stay in state hands.

The Czech Supreme Court did not uphold an appeal filed by the Colloredo-Mansfeld family against the Pardubice regional court which ruled that the assets belong to the Czech state.

The property, including the Opočno chateau was confiscated from the Colloredo-Mansfeld family by the Nazis during the World War II and later by Czechoslovakia's communist government.

The dispute concerned over 40 paintings, chariot and more than 200 artillery worth over a billion crowns. All is part of the chateau's inventory.

The dispute has dragged on for years.

More claims

This is not the only dispute Countess Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld, a direct descendant of the Colloredo-Mansfeld noble family, has been involved in the years-long ownership dispute over the entire chateau as well as Dobříš chateau with the Czech National Heritage Institute.

The whole matter is complicated by different rulings of courts, often contradicting each other.

The Opočno chateau was first given back to the Colloredo-Mansfeld noble family in 2003 based on a district court's decision but the Pardubice regional court overturned the disctrict court's decision and Countess Colloredo-Mansfeld had to return the chateau and the assets to the Czech state in 2007.

The post-war communist government accused her father Josef Colloredo-Mansfeld of collaboration with the Nazis.

Not giving up, Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld is set to clear the family's name, arguing her family was forced to move out of the chateau by the Nazis. The family emigrated to Canada in 1947.