5
Nación S.A., compelling the State to reimburse “principal in the amount of sixty-three
million eight hundred and eleven thousand colones, pursuant to the certificate of deposit
[…], plus statutory interest and default interest owed”; furthermore, the State was
compelled to “pay personal and court costs incurred in pursuing this action”. Upon issuing
such judgment, Costa Rica informed that, among other steps being taken, “funds [were]
being applied into the 'compensation’ item to provide for […] the payment of the damages
award against the State”, which implied “taking unavoidable legal steps which require from
two to three months to be effective, when the deposit into La Nación S.A.'s account will be
made".
11.
That, finally, on January 29, 2009 the State reported that it had made two deposits
into La Nación S.A.'s account for sixty-three million, eight hundred and eleven thousand
colones (CRC 63,811,000.00) and sixty-seven million, seven hundred and fifty thousand,
three hundred and sixty colones (CRC 67,750,360.00), as "the principal owed for the
annulment of the aforementioned judgment and [the] amount [arising from] costs and
statutory and default interest”. The State attached copies of the certificates of the deposits
made on September 19 and December 10, 2008.
12.
That the representatives pointed out that they had to file an action against the State
in view of "the Ministry of Finance's refusal to comply with the judgment reimbursing the
compensation award paid when required [...]. The Ministry alleged that such payment
should be ordered by the Supreme Court of Justice en banc. The Supreme Court, for its
part, failed to comply with the requirement and expressed its opinion that contentiousadministrative proceedings should be carried out previously, refusing to comply with the
Inter-American Court's Judgment pursuant to the Convention and the Headquarters
Agreement. Finally, the State as defendant in the aforementioned proceedings has not been
particularly cooperative either, since, in light of its undeniable international obligations in
this regard, in compliance with the Judgment it should have appeared at least upon
commencement of the proceedings rather than confining itself to refrain from raising
challenges. Had the State acted properly, the contentious-administrative proceedings would
very likely have ended by now and the Judgment would have been enforced in whole”.
13.
That the representatives added that the State “has failed to comply on its own with
its duty to abide by a final international judgment almost five years old[, which] is even
more inexplicable considering that section 27 of the Headquarters Agreement between [the
State] and [the Court provides that] 'once the orders of the Court and its President have
been notified to the appropriate administrative or judicial authorities of the Republic, they
shall have the same binding force as the orders issued by Costa Rican courts’”. The
representatives stated that the action filed by La Nación S.A. against the State was
encouraged by them ”in an attempt to cure the State’s contradictions and breaches of
duties and to offer the State further opportunity to comply with international duties which it
has failed to perform on its own". This made the State’s breach of duties even worse, as
“[the State] continues making excuses such as difficulties and defects in its domestic
system for its delay in complying with a money judgment issued by a Costa Rican court
along the same lines as [the Court’s order of] July 2004”.
14.
That, with regard to the amounts deposited in late 2008 (supra Considering clause
No. 11), the representatives stated that “they do not cover the interest accrued between
the date of the Costa Rican court’s judgment and the payment date", which must be paid
not only pursuant to the Costa Rican contentious-administrative court's judgment, but also