42 With respect to the criminal complaints and the civil suit for damages filed against Mr. Mauricio Herrera Ulloa as criminal and civil defendant, and against the newspaper “La Nación” as civil defendant 95(p) Mr. Félix Przedborski filed two criminal complaints against journalist Mauricio Herrera Ulloa in the Costa Rican courts for the crimes of defamation, calumny and publication of offenses, based on the publication of the afore-mentioned articles (supra paragraphs 95(d), 95(e), 95(f), and 95(i)). One of the criminal complaints was filed in connection with the first set of articles, which appeared on May 19, 20 and 21, 1995; the other was filed in connection with one of the articles from the second series, specifically the one published on December 13, 1995. In addition to the criminal complaints, Mr. Félix Przedborski also filed a civil suit seeking damages from Mauricio Herrera Ulloa and the newspaper “La Nación” 51. 95(q) On May 29, 1998, the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José delivered a verdict acquitting Mr. Mauricio Herrera Ulloa on the grounds that he had not acted with the malice that must be present for the actions to constitute the crimes of defamation, calumny and propagating or publishing offenses. The judgment stated that Mr. Herrera Ulloa’s actions were not carried out in the “spirit of malice or […] purely out of a desire to give offense; instead, he acted out of his duty to report questions being raised abroad concerning a Costa Rican public official.” 52 The judgment also dismissed the civil suit brought against the journalist and the newspaper “La Nación.” 53 95(r) The attorney for Mr. Przedborski filed a writ of cassation with the Third Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court challenging the May 29, 1998 judgment (supra para. 95(q)) on the grounds of “procedural error,” “failure to establish a rational bases,” and “judicial error.” 54 95(s) On May 7, 1999, the Third Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court, composed of Daniel González Álvarez (President), Mario Alberto Houed Vega, Alfonso Chaves Ramírez, Rodrigo Castro Monge and Carlos Luis Redondo Gutiérrez (alternate justice), delivered a judgment wherein it decided the writ of cassation filed by the attorney for Mr. Félix Przedborski challenging the May 29, 1998 judgment. The Third Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court nullified the verdict being challenged because “the court from which the case was removed […] took the analysis […] in a direction other than the one required for a proper inquiry into the existence or nonexistence of the facts of the criminal complaint, particularly regarding such a fundamental question as what did defendant Mauricio Herrera Ulloa know and what was his intent [.] […T]he bases of the judgment are not sufficient to reasonably 51 Judgment Number 61-98 of May 29, 1998, of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, Group Three, San José (file of annexes to the application, volume I, annex 7, folio 810). 52 Judgment Number 61-98 of May 29, 1998, of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, Group Three, San José (file of annexes to the application, volume I, annex 7, final observations on the facts and the law, point seven, folio 892). 53 Judgment Number 61-98 of May 29, 1998, of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, Group Three, San José (file of annexes to the application, volume I, annex 7, Chapter XI on the civil suit for damages and costs, folio 894). 54 Judgment No. 000540-99 of May 7, 1999, of the Third Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court (file on preliminary objections and possible merits, reparations and costs, volume I, annex g to the written brief of pleadings, motions and evidence of the alleged victims’ representatives, folios 349 and 350 to 352).