The Philippine Court of Tax Appeals on Wednesday acquitted Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
The court has also acquitted her news portal, Rappler, of four counts of tax evasion filed in 2018 during the previous term of Rodrigo Duterte.
This judgment brings to an end more than four years of trial, two months after the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission issued a closure order against Rappler based on the allegation that it would have violated the law by allegedly being a foreign company.
Ressa said after the verdict that «today the facts win, the truth wins, justice wins,» while calling for the freedom of other fellow professionals.
Ressa’s lawyer, Francis Lim, indicated that the legal team had «no doubt that this day would come»: «I told them to keep the faith, because in our hearts we knew that an acquittal would come».
«We have confidence in our judiciary, everyone knew where this case was coming from,» he said, referring to the fact that they consider this case to be a pattern of harassment against the reporter’s work.
With the elimination of these tax evasion cases, three active court cases remain against the media outlet and the journalist, for defamation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
