Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her online news outlet Rappler has been acquitted of tax evasion.
The ruling by an appellate court on Wednesday handed Ressa a victory in a case she has described as part of a pattern of harassment by the government of former President Rodrigo Duterte to muzzle critical reporting.
If convicted of the four tax evasion charges, she would have faced 34 years in jail.
“Today, facts win. Truth wins. Justice wins,” an emotional Ressa said after Wednesday’s ruling.
Ressa still faces three other criminal cases, which are under appeal.
Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo reports from Manila
Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/
#Philippines #MariaRessa #Rappler
Comments
Comments are disabled for this post.