A San José trial court acquitted businessman Guillermo Alberto Rodríguez Baldí of defamation, accused by former president Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014).
The three judge panel also rescinded the civil action for damages of ¢100 million colones by the former president.
Judge Carmen Maria Peraza, said the decision to acquit was reached given the text that was used to file defamatory charges has a double interpretation. The other judges were María de los Angeles Arana Rojas and Max Antonio Escalante. The decision was unanimous.
Peraza point out that the posting on Facebook has no explicit offense, but allows for other interpretations. She reiterated that the post did not contain content that could be offending to the honour of the former president.
The judge, in reading the decision of the court said, as a high ranking public official (the former president) should have higher limit of tolerance for criticism.
