Maria Ressa acquitted for a second time but her legal woes continue
The 59-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist was tried for tax evasion as head of the Rappler. Her defence team showed that charges were politically motivated and unfounded, the work of former President Duterte. She still faces two more legal proceedings.
Milan (AsiaNews) – Philippine activist and journalist Maria Ressa has been again acquitted. Together with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, she won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
The 59-year-old was on trial for a second time on four counts of tax evasion. The first trial ended last January in her acquittal as head of the online media Rappler after her lawyers proved that the charges were baseless.
The defence also demonstrated that the accusations were politically motivated, stemming from the journalist’s opposition to former President Rodrigo Duterte, and his policy of war on drugs.
Reacting to the ruling, she stressed the importance of not giving in to pressure and despair.
“You gotta have faith,” she told fellow journalists at a Manila courthouse because “It shows that the court system works and we hope to see the remaining charges dismissed.”
In fact, her legal woes are not yet over; she still faces two more legal hurdles, a cyberlibel case in which she was found guilty in 2020 and is on probation, waiting for her appeal to go to court.
The other involves the Philippine securities and exchange commission (SEC), which revoked Rappler's license to do business, for alleged violations of the law that does not allow foreign ownership of a Philippine information media outlet.
Most of the allegations relate to events prior to Duterte's presidency, with investigations and proceedings coming at a later date.
For journalists and supporters, the former president, who has had complicated relations with the media, was out to get her, a charge he always rejected.
But this is nothing new for him. Similar accusations have been in other cases. One involves Leila de Lima, a former chairwoman of the country’s Commission on Human Rights from 2008 to 2010, who served as Minister of Justice from 2010 to 2015 and senator from 2016 to 2022.
De Lima, who has been in prison since 2017 awaiting trial on charges of drug trafficking and whose innocence has been partially recognised, was denied bail again on 7 June.
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