ceaușescu was freed from prison nine months later, after no charges were brought against him. during that time, his collection of 50 paintings by romanian masters, engravings by francisco goya, and hundreds of rare books were confiscated. when he asked for restitution, the romanian authorities argued that there are no documents which prove that he is the owner, and that the art collection belonged to the romanian state, which promptly donated them to the national museum of art. ceaușescu sued the government for restitution. the courts found in favour of ceaușescu in 2009, and ordered the museum to return forty pictures. most of the works were collected by him and his former wife. he planned to give most of them to dana.