INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands

Press Release

Unofficial

No. 2016/33

19 October 2016

Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France)

Conclusion of the public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures made by Equatorial Guinea

The Court to begin its deliberation

THE HAGUE, 19 October 2016. The public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures made by Equatorial Guinea in the case concerning Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) were concluded today. The Court will now begin its deliberation.

Two rounds of oral observations on the request were held from Monday 17 to Wednesday 19 October 2016 at the Peace Palace in The Hague, seat of the Court. During the hearings, the delegation of Equatorial Guinea was led by H.E. Mr. Carmelo Nvono Nca, Ambassador of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Agent. The delegation of France was led by Mr. François Alabrune, Director of Legal Affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, as Agent.

The Court’s decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course.

Requests of the Parties

At the end of the second round of oral observations, the Parties presented the following submissions to the Court:

For Equatorial Guinea:

“On the basis of the facts and law set out in our Request of 29 September 2016, and in the course of the present hearing, Equatorial Guinea respectfully asks the Court, pending its judgment on the merits, to indicate the following provisional measures:

(a)   that France suspend all the criminal proceedings brought against the Vice-President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and refrain from launching new proceedings against him, which might aggravate or extend the dispute submitted to the Court;

(b)   that France ensure that the building located at 42 avenue Foch in Paris is treated as premises of Equatorial Guinea’s diplomatic mission in France and, in particular, assure its inviolability, and that those premises, together with their furnishings and other property thereon, or previously thereon, are protected from any intrusion or damage, any search, requisition, attachment or any other measure of constraint;

(c)    that France refrain from taking any other measure that might cause prejudice to the rights claimed by Equatorial Guinea and/or aggravate or extend the dispute submitted to the Court, or compromise the implementation of any decision which the Court might render.”

For France:

           “For the reasons explained by its representatives at the hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures in the case concerning Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France), the French Republic asks the Court:

(i)                 to remove the case from its List;

(ii)               (ii) or, failing that, to reject all the requests for provisional measures made by Equatorial Guinea.”

_______________________________

History of the proceedings

The history of the proceedings can be found in Press Releases Nos. 2016/18 of 14 June 2016, 2016/23 of 23 July 2016, 2016/28 of 30 September 2016 and 2016/32 of 6 October 2016 available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org) under the heading “Press Room”/“Press Releases”.

_______________________________