Judicial agents inspect the house of former President Arias

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Officials of the Attorney General's Office and the agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization, Tuesday searched the home of former President Óscar Arias, located in Rohrmoser, San José.

"The Gender Prosecutor's Office confirmed that at 9:40 a.m. an inspection was made at the home of former President Arias, related to the case for alleged sexual crimes," said the Prosecutor's Office in its statement.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the search was carried out as part of the investigation of alleged rape and sexual assault against former president Arias.

However, this search was requested by the defense lawyers of former President Arias and has as its goal that the judicial authorities know the house and contrast it with the version of the complainants.

On March 29, as A.M. Costa Rica reported, the former president Oscar Arias, through his lawyer Erick Ramos, made a complaint about extortion against a woman, whose identity was not published, for allegedly asking him for  about $41,470 in exchange for not publishing an alleged sexual assault against Arias.

According to statements made by lawyer Ramos in local media, "the woman asked for ¢25 million colones in exchange for avoiding the media to make a scandal for alleged misconduct of my client."

According to lawyer Ramos, on Monday, March 25, a complaint was filed in the Prosecutor's Office of Pavas. The complaint was made to set into motion a process that is ordinary in this type of case. The process is simple. Agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization would mark bills that would be given over to the woman. She would then be stopped and, if found in possession of the bills, arrested for extortion.

The process could not be carried out because, according to the Mr. Ramos, on Wednesday, March 27, he received a call from a radio communication medium requesting an interview about the complaint against Arias made by the alleged extortionist. "I was surprised because that information was confidential, I told the journalist that I was not going to give any information, I also asked him not to do any publication because an operation was being done," said Ramos.

Apparently, the operation to stop the woman was stopped because it had been leaked to the media.

"It seems to me that the Attorney General must go to the bottom of the matter," said lawyer Ramos referring to the investigation leak.

The Prosecutor's office for Gender registered two criminal complaints against the former president 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.

The first formal complaint made by Mrs. Arce, was filed as a rape accusation against Mr. Arias.

According to Mrs. 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 Mr. Arias home. He had sent her a message on Facebook to invite her to visit him to 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," said Morales.

The other seventh accusations of similar behavior went public in newspapers.



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Should the other women who made their complaints in newspaper interviews make official accusations at the Prosecutor Office as well?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story.  Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com