DECISIONS OF INTERNATIONAL COURTS AND TRIBUNALS: International Court of Justice Certain Questions of Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Djibouti v France) Judgment of 4 June 2008

摘要

Judge Borrel, a French national, had been seconded to the Ministry of Justice of Djibouti. He did not return alive: His body was found outside the city of Djibouti in October 2005. This led to judicial proceedings in both States, which put Franco-Djiboutian judicial cooperation to the test. Although the official Djiboutian view of the circumstances in which Borrel met his end, confirmed by its initial judicial proceedings, pointed to suicide, a French investigating judge entertained evidence of involvement of Djiboutian officials in his death. Although initially the parallel proceedings co-existed harmoniously, with Djibouti fully cooperating with France's requests for cooperation under the 1986 Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters between Djibouti and France, eventually tension erupted, which led to Djibouti bringing a claim to the ICJ on 9 January 2006.