Manila wants to stop Maria Ressa reaching Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize
Having been convicted, the journalist needs a permit from the Court of Appeals to leave the Philippines. The State Attorney General's Office, has filed an appeal against and defined her as "a flight risk" for the country. Only twice has a Nobel Prize winner been prevented from attending the ceremony: in 2010 to Chinese dissident Liu Xiabo and in 1935 to anti-Nazi journalist Carl von Ossietzky.
Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Maria Ressa is a "flight risk danger" for the Philippines. And, although a Nobel Prize is a prestigious recognition, it is not demonstrated "the necessity and urgency of his trip to Oslo. Solicitor General Jose Calida has filed an appeal against Manila authnorities to allow Maria Ressa, the journalist founder of the independent site Rappler, to travel to Oslo to receive on December 10 the Nobel Peace Prize 2021, awarded to her along with her Russian colleague Dmitry Muratov.
Having been convicted of defamation in 2020, the journalist is required to obtain permission from the Court of Appeal in order to leave the country. She is currently at Harvard University, in the United States, for a lecture series for which she obtained the green light from the judicial body after the announcement of the Nobel Prize.
In her request Maria Ressa - who had previously had similar requests rejected - also mentioned her wish to spend Thanksgiving with her family in the United States. The permission granted foresees, however, that the journalist will return to the Philippines next week and for this reason her lawyers have asked for an extension to travel directly from the United States to Oslo. The Solicitor General has spoken out against an extension to her permit.
"Her recurring criticisms of the Philippine legal processes in the international community reveal her lack of respect for the judicial system which consequently makes her a flight risk," said Calida in an opposition dated November 8, co-signed by 12 other assistant solicitors general and state solicitors. The Court is now tasked with ruling on Maria Ressa's petition and the negative opinion of the bar, which represents the Philippine government in court.
Only twice in history has the Nobel Peace Prize winner been unable to attend the award ceremony: in 1935, when the Nazis prevented German journalist Carl von Ossietzky from attending, and in more recent years in 2010, when it was the authorities of the People's Republic of China who refused to let dissident Liu Xiaobo go to Oslo. Both precedents have been cited by Maria Ressa's lawyers, who have also pointed out that the hypothesis of remaining in exile in the United States "is not an option" considered by the journalist.
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08/10/2021 17:05
