The original ruling that prompted the payment was handed down by the court in December 2015, when justicies resolved that that the frontier wetland of Isla Calera is Costa Rican territory.
Nicaragua's arguments in the border dispute include a map of Costa Rica without the Nicoya peninsula, claiming that the maritime limits disputed before the ICJ should not take that territory into account.
Nicaragua will have until June 2 to submit a response. Justices then will issue a final ruling on the damage compensation figure and on a deadline to make the payment.
Costa Rica asked the International Court of Justice to add a new complaint against Nicaragua to an ongoing case of a border dispute first filed in 2014.
The deadline for Costa Rica and Nicaragua to reach an agreement on the payment of compensation over environmental damage ruled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ended Friday without any signs of a settlement.
Daniel Ortega said that while his government is willing to compensate Costa Rica, it considers the $6.7 million requested by Costa Rica to be “exaggerated.”
Costa Rica’s General Prosecutor Jorge Chavarría Guzmán said he is almost ready to file charges for corruption in the failed construction of a road along the border with Nicaragua.
The multi-million-dollar price tag on the damages to the wetlands near the Caribbean border of both countries comes after the International Court of Justice ruled in December 2015 that Nicaragua violated Costa Rica’s sovereignty when it dredged an artificial canal through Isla Calero, also known as Isla Portillos or Harbour Head Island.
