The Romeros were, however, acquitted of the bribery and slander charges, favored by lack of full evidence.
They were also sentenced to pay President Figueres ¢25 million (under $100,000), which the chief executive decided will be distributed equally between the Carlos María Ulloa Home for the Elderly and the National Children's Hospital. To Castro they will have to pay ¢1, as requested by the plaintiff.
The judges of the Penal Court of San Jose, Carlos Boza, Emilia Solera and Jorge Desanti, also sentenced Eva María Arias to two years of prison for perjury, but she instead was sentenced to five years of probation.
The sentences are all related to a series of denunciations the Romeros made in 1991, before and after they published the book ``The Chemise Case'', in which President Figueres was linked to the murder in 1973 of José Joaquín Orozco, an alleged drug trafficker who was better known by his nickname, ``Chemise''.
In August 1991, the Romeros filed charges against Figueres and Castro for unlawful association and search for false witnesses.
The complaint was entered just as Figueres made the announcement that he was running to become the presidential candidate of the National Liberation Party.
``We will hold our heads high as we go into prison, because all we did was to ask for justice. We were motivated by the idea that the public had the right to know who the presidential candidate was. Now the case is buried again,'' asserted David Romero.
President Figueres issued yesterday a press release in which he remarked that justice has been done after the ``dirty'' campaign of which he had been a victim.
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