International Court of Justice delivers its Order relating to the Return of Property Confiscated in Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France).

Sept 2025 : On Friday 12 September 2025, The International Court of Justice today has delivered its Order on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Equatorial Guinea in the case concerning the Request relating to the Return of Property Confiscated in Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France). Public hearings on that Request were held on 15 July, 2025.

In its Order, the Court notes that it may only indicate provisional measures if it is satisfied that the rights asserted by the party requesting such measures are at least plausible.

The Court considers that the right for which Equatorial Guinea seeks protection through the

present Request is the right it allegedly possesses, under Article 57, paragraph 3 (c), of the

Convention against Corruption, to the return of the building located at 42 avenue Foch in Paris.

The Court observes that Article 57, paragraph 3 (c), of the Convention provides that a requested State party “shall give priority consideration” to three possibilities:

• the return of such property to the requesting State party;
• the return of such property to its prior legitimate owners; or
• the provision of compensation to the victims of the crime.

The Court considers that the phrase “shall give priority consideration”, read in conjunction with the listing of three possibilities, suggests that the requested State party has some discretion as to the course of action ultimately adopted and that the return of the confiscated property to the requesting State party is only one of the possibilities to which the requested State party shall give priority consideration in performing the obligation incumbent upon it under Article 57, paragraph 3 (c).

Having examined the arguments of both Parties, “the Court concludes that Equatorial Guinea has not demonstrated, in the course of these incidental proceedings concerning the indication of provisional measures, that it possesses a plausible right to the return of the building located at 42 avenue Foch in Paris on the basis of the provision it invokes in that respect”.

Recalling that the conditions for the indication of provisional measures are cumulative, and having found that one such condition has not been met, the Court observes that it is not required to examine whether the other conditions are satisfied.

It concludes that the circumstances, as they now present themselves to it, are not such as to require the exercise of its power under Article 41 of the Statute to indicate provisional measures.

The operative part of the Court’s Order reads as follows:

“For these reasons,

THE COURT, By thirteen votes to two, Rejects the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea on 3 July 2025.

IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Vice-President Sebutinde; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Bhandari, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant, Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Aurescu, Tladi;

AGAINST: Judge Yusuf; Judge ad hoc Elias”.

It is recalled that Equatorial Guinea filed its Request for the indication of provisional measures on 3^rd. July 2025, pursuant to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Article 73 of the Rules of Court.

In its Request, Equatorial Guinea states that “on 27 May 2025, the Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) submitted an application to the President of the Paris Tribunal judiciaire, in which it requested the appointment of a court enforcement officer who could enter the building at 42 avenue Foch, whose return is sought by Equatorial Guinea from France on the basis of the United Nations Convention” against Corruption of 31 October 2003.

Equatorial Guinea added that “on 18^th. June 2025, a commissioner of the French judicial police, officers of the judicial police, officers of the national police, AGRASC officials, as well as officers from a private security company and locksmiths presented themselves at the building, accompanied by police dogs. They entered the building in the absence of its occupants and without informing them in advance. They then proceeded to change the locks of several of the building’s doors”.

According to Equatorial Guinea, despite the request that it made to France to provide, “by no

later than 27^th. June 2025, assurances of its commitment not to cause irreparable prejudice or to

further aggravate the dispute or make it more difficult to resolve”, France has failed to offer any

assurances that it “will not proceed with the sale of the building at any moment, before the Court is

able to decide the dispute on the merits”.

Equatorial Guinea had requested the International Court to indicate the following provisional measures:

• France must take all necessary measures to ensure that the building is not offered for sale;

• France must ensure that Equatorial Guinea has immediate, full and unimpeded access to the entire building;

• France must refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.

Team Maverick