Equatorial Guinea sues France at UN court to halt Paris mansion sale

Equatorial Guinea has filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop France from selling a disputed mansion in Paris and to regain full access to the property, the UN court said Friday.

The building, located on Avenue Foch, is at the centre of a long-running legal dispute stemming from the 2017 conviction of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue—vice president and son of Equatorial Guinea's president—by a French court for embezzlement and money laundering. His conviction led to the seizure of the mansion, valued in the tens of millions of euros. The ruling was upheld on appeal in 2020.

In its lawsuit, filed Thursday, Equatorial Guinea cited the UN Convention against Corruption and accused France of failing to provide assurances that it would not sell the mansion before the ICJ rules on the case.

The mansion is valued at over €100 million.

The West African nation is asking the court to order France to halt any sale, grant it immediate and full access to the building, and refrain from actions that could worsen or prolong the dispute.

According to the filing, French judicial police entered the property on 18 June without notice and changed several locks, further escalating tensions.

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