Former president Oscar Arias went to testify before the Deputy Prosecutor 's Office of Gender on Wednesday. He had to give his statement on two cases of sexual misconduct against him. The first accusation is for rape and the second is for sexual abuse. No precautionary pre-trial measures were requested by the Prosecutor's office against Mr. Arias.

At 7:30 a.m., Mr. Arias arrived at the prosecutor's office in the company of his lawyer Erick Ramos. At the exit of the court, Mr. Arias gave a brief speech explaining why he cannot give more statements about these two accusations against him.

"In the last 50 years, in the different positions that I have occupied in my public life in this country, I have always answered for the journalists all the questions that they have asked me, nevertheless on this occasion my lawyer has asked me to not give any statement, so I ask you (referring to reporters) to understand why I will not give any statement," he said.

Attorney Erick Ramos reaffirmed what was said by Mr. Arias.

"We have already made the declaration in the Public Ministry's court, we are not going to do any more, we want you (the reporters) to understand these circumstances," he said.

Asked about the details of the former president’s statement and/or if he opted not to make any statement, lawyer Ramos said, "in those circumstances, we cannot reveal to third parties that information because it is in a phase of the investigation. Believe me that I would love to talk about the whole process and provide the information, but at this time we cannot. Later we will review the situation and we will gladly communicate what is relevant."

With regard to the reaction of deputies of the National Liberation Party on this issue, Ramos said, "those are peripheral issues that do not matter. The country deserves a response from the court when it resolves the matter. We cannot refer because there are two people who exercised their right to access justice to file complaints and we must be respectful of those two people.”

Mr. Arias won the country's presidency from 1986 to 1990. His role in the negotiation of a peace agreement to stop the Central American Wars earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. In 2006 he won re-election as Costa Rican president from 2006 to 2010.

As A.M. Costa Rica has reported, the Prosecutor's office for Gender registered two criminal complaints against former president Óscar Arias Sánchez for alleged sexual assault. One complaint was made by a woman surnamed Arce and the other by a woman surnamed Morales.  Those accusations were registered as file #19000098994-PE in the Prosecutor's office and are subject to investigation.

The first formal complaint was made by a woman surnamed Arce.  She filed a rape accusation against Mr. Arias.

According to Arce’s testimony, "he grabbed me from behind and touched my breasts. I told him no and that he was married, that was my no. I did not know what I really did, and I thought that it was the only line of defense, because I had this fear: if I refused he would not cooperate with us anymore. He kept touching me, he has put his fingers in my vagina and he touched me and kissed me. And then he told me to wait a moment and he left the office. I was like I did not know what to do, I felt trapped at that moment."

The second official denounced for the alleged crime of sexual abuse, was made by a woman surnamed Morales. According to her, the events took place in 2015 at the home of Arias after he had sent her a message on Facebook, and invited her to visit him so he could give her a book.

"He stood in front of me next to the door that was closed. I'm taller than him, however, he grabbed my head, I had loose hair, he grabbed me, he forced me to get closer to his body, then with one of his hands he touched my breasts over my clothes and then he kissed me against my will, I was frozen, I did not know what to say, the only thing I could think was to tell him 'Don’t Oscar, I have to go', he did not tell me anything, he did not move away, I was shocked, I did not expect something like this from a person so recognized and whom I admired very much."

Other women made accusations of similar behavior but did not file complaints at the prosecutor’s office. Instead, they went public in newspapers.

Another woman, also surnamed Morales, published an article entitled "My bad experience with Óscar Arias" in the magazine Profile (Perfil). In the article, she explained that in 2013 she "had an interview with Arias about the arms trade treaty at his house. When at the end of the interview he sat at his desk to look for some photos on his computer. He said to me (with a gesture) that I would sit on his leg so we could see the screen. I remember that I mentioned that:  if his wife was not going to get angry? His wife was on the cover of our magazine in February of that year, I told him that I had interviewed her and that she was an admirable lady. The situation did not go further. There was no sexual assault, luckily," she said.

Another was journalist Emma Daly, who works for the Human Rights Watch organization and who made public accusations in an interview in the Washington Post. According to Ms. Daly, Mr. Arias groped her in 1990 when she was a reporter covering Central America issues, and Mr. Arias was also at the Intercontinental Hotel in Managua, Nicaragua. Ms. Daly said she asked a question and instead of answering the question, Mr. Arias put his hand between her breasts and exclaimed, "You're not wearing a bra." Ms. Daly said that she responded, "Yes, I am."