Legislator faces harassment complaint from adviser in his own office

An adviser in the office of legislator Fernando Obaldía Álvarez filed a criminal complaint against him yesterday, opening a case that the Attorney General’s Office is examining as a possible offense of predatory harassment. The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that it had received a complaint against a legislator surnamed Obaldía for the apparent offense of predatory harassment against an adult. The complainant’s identity is protected Obaldía Álvarez, 66, represents Alajuela for the Pueblo Soberano party, which holds the presidency and a majority in the Legislative Assembly. He has not been charged, and no court has ruled on the allegations. Predatory harassment is defined in the Costa Rican penal code as repeated and insistent harassment of a person without their consent, in a way that affects their privacy, integrity or daily activities. The offense covers watching, loitering near, following or seeking physical proximity to a victim, as well as establishing or attempting to establish contact by physical or electronic means or through third parties. It carries aggravated forms where the accused holds a position of authority or power over the person concerned. Because the complaint targets a member of a supreme branch of government, it was filed directly with Attorney General Carlo Díaz rather than through an ordinary prosecutor’s office. After going to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the adviser went to the Legislative Assembly’s Executive Directorate to lodge a separate administrative complaint. A second adviser from the same office joined that filing, which alleges workplace harassment. Among the conduct described in the workplace complaint is a request the legislator is alleged to have made to the Assembly’s security department for security camera footage tracking the movements of advisers in his office, including cameras positioned along corridors near restrooms on the floor where his office sits. Obaldía Álvarez has not commented publicly. His party’s communications office said he would not address the matter because it is now before the courts. The Pueblo Soberano bloc said in a written statement that it takes any complaint of this nature with absolute seriousness, that it will not minimize a situation of this kind, and that it will act firmly against any conduct found through the proper procedures to have violated a person’s respect, dignity or integrity. The bloc said established procedures must be followed and stressed the right of all parties to due process. Frente Amplio legislator Vianey Mora Vega called on the governing bloc to ask Obaldía Álvarez to give up his parliamentary immunity so the case can proceed. She said the complainants must be protected and not subjected to further harm during the process, and that due process must be observed. The National Association of Public and Private Employees, the union known as ANEP, called on the party and on President Laura Fernández Delgado to remove the legislator from the parliamentary bloc immediately and to press him to resign his seat. The union linked its demand to Costa Rica’s recent adoption of International Labour Organization Convention 190, which addresses violence and harassment in the workplace. The path forward now runs through the Assembly itself. Members of the Legislative Assembly hold immunity from prosecution, and the complaint must be reviewed by the Legislative Directorate and referred to a special investigating committee. That committee produces a report, and the Assembly then decides whether to lift the legislator’s immunity so the case can move to the courts, or to close off that possibility. The administrative complaint over workplace harassment follows a separate internal track and does not depend on the outcome of the immunity question. Neither process has a fixed deadline.