Philippines: Maria Ressa was found not guilty of tax evasion

• She was found guilty of the four tax evasion offenses.
• She has been characterized as part of a pattern of harassment.
• She would have been sentenced to 34 years in prison.

Maria Ressa, a Nobel laureate from the Philippines, has been cleared of tax evasion charges.

Ressa won after an appellate court’s decision on Wednesday, which she has characterized as part of a pattern of harassment by the administration of the late President Rodrigo Duterte to stifle critical reporting.

She would have been sentenced to 34 years in prison if found guilty of the four tax evasion offenses.

“Today, facts win. Truth wins. Justice wins,” an emotional Ressa said after Wednesday’s ruling.

“These charges as you know were politically motivated, they were a brazen abuse of power and meant to stop journalists from doing their jobs,” she told reporters.

“These cases are where capital markets, where rule of law, where press freedom meet. So this acquittal is not just for Rappler. It is for every Filipino who has ever been unjustly accused.”

Head of Rappler and co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, 53-year-old Ressa is known for its in-depth reporting and incisive examination of Duterte’s “war on drugs.” Official statistics show that more than 6,200 individuals died in police anti-drug operations, but human rights organizations believe that the number of fatalities was much higher.

The International Criminal Court opened an inquiry into drug killings as a potential crime against humanity.

Since then, Ressa and Rappler have endured what press freedom advocates say was a grinding series of criminal charges, probes, and online attacks.

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