"People in a remote part of Russia have blamed a spate of earth tremors on the excavation of a 2,500-year-old mummy known as the Princess of Altai.  They want scientists to return the remains, which were found in ice and offer unique insights into their time.

"[...] The Princess is being examined at the Ethnographic Institute in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.  She was a prized find for archaeologists in Russia and across the world, when she was excavated in 1993 along with six saddled and bridled horses from the frozen earth of Altai's Ukok plateau.  Mummy specialists from Moscow - who were more used to embalming the body of Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin - were brought in to restore the Princess. Nothing is known of her actual history, but DNA tests and the reconstruction of her face already indicate she was of European, not Asian, origin, Russia's Izvestia newspaper reports.  Found on the borders of China and Mongolia, she was initially thought to have been of Scythian extraction. Archaeologists in Novosibirsk say they are willing to return the mummy to an Altai museum eventually, but only if suitable conditions are provided there for conserving the body. 'We are prepared to discuss the mummy's possible transfer to the museum, but burying it is out of the question,' team leader Vyacheslav Molodin told Izvestia. The director of the ethnographic museum in Altai's capital, Gorno-Altaisk, says there are plans to build a glass tomb for the mummy inside the museum."

From article "'Mummy's curse' upsets Siberians", BBC 2004.  Related documents.

"Мы, коренные жители Горного Алтая, являемся язычниками и поклоняемся природе. Все раскопки, которые велись и ведутся на Алтае, причиняют нам непоправимый урон. Не считаясь с мнением народа, вывозятся бесценные сокровища, духовное наследие алтайцев. Так, на плато Укок в Кош-Агачском районе был вскрыт курган-могильник, где находилась татуированная молодая женщина знатного происхождения. Для жителей Алтая она являлась священной реликвией - хранительницей покоя и величия нашего народа. Сейчас Алтайская принцесса хранится в новосибирском музее. Как язычники мы не сомневаемся в том, что душа Алтайской принцессы бунтует и требует упокоить наконец ее прах. С этим связаны трагические события последних месяцев. Мы, жители села Ороктой, обращаемся к жителям Республики Алтай с призывом поддержать нас и требовать возвращения священной реликвии."

Letter of protest from the people of the Altai region.  Source.