126. The Court recalls that in the instant case, it has found that the Respondent
State violated the right of the Applicants to the enforcement of a court
decision by its actions and inactions which resulted in the non-payment of
compensation for the loss of customary rights on the expropriated parcel of
land. The Court notes that the compensation amount was pegged at Eight
Hundred and Twelve Million Four Hundred and Eighty-Eight Thousand
(812,488,000) CFA Francs as averred by the Applicants and confirmed by
the Respondent State, as it emerges from the copies of the judgments of
the Court of Appeal of Abidjan and the Supreme Court.
127. Accordingly, the Court finds that the Respondent State should execute the
judgment of 13 July 2007 rendered by the Court of Appeal and pay the
Applicants the full compensation amount for the loss of their customary
rights.
128. As regards the default interest, the Court notes that failure to pay a debt
within the specified periods obliges the debtor to pay, in addition to the
principal, default interests based on the Central Bank interest rate, in this
case, that of the Central Bank of West African States. Thus “in a case of an
obligation to pay interest at the statutory rate, this interest is increased by
half [...] with effect from the day that the court decision becomes binding”.24
In this case, the Court deems that the default interest payable by the
Respondent State to the Applicants runs from 9 April 2009, that is, the day
on which the appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal was
dismissed and thus became binding, up to the date of the judgment in the
present Application.
129. The Court further notes that, from year to year, between 2009 and 2023, the
BCEAO interest rate varied as follows: 3.75% for the years 2009, 2015 to
2017, 3.72% for 2010 and 2011; 3.55 for the years 2012-2013-2014-2018;
4.505% for 2019-2020 and 2021; 4% in 2022-2023. These different interest
24
See Article 2 of Law 77-523 of 30 July 1977 as modified by Law 2005-555 of 2 December 2005
concerning the fixing of statutory interest rates, limitation of the conventional interest rate and repression
of usurious operations.
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