This Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Decides on a long-standing dispute between France and Guinea Equatorial concerning a mansion worth several million euros. The hotel was allegedly confiscated by the French authorities in the so-called case of “ill-gotten goods.”

Equatorial Guinea asked the highest UN jurisdiction to issue emergency orders in order to prevent France to sell the luxurious Parisian property seized in 2012, which includes a cinema, a steam room and marble and gold sanitary facilities.

Indeed, the building, with an estimated value of more than 100 million euros, had been seized as part of an investigation for corruption targeting the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, commonly known as Teodorin.

Equatorial Guinea claims that the police French woman entered the property in June, changing the locks of several doors and destroys security cameras.

An application for emergency orders - measures conservatories, in the jargon of jurisdiction - takes precedence over all others ongoing court cases at the ICJ, which rules on disputes between UN member states.