Nobel Peace Prize to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, champions of freedom of expression
Nobel Peace Prize to journalist Dmitry Muratov and the Kremlin congratulates: "Courage and talent"
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October 11, 2021 President Rodrigo Duterte's administration congratulated journalist Maria Ressa, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her struggles for freedom of expression in the Philippines. In doing so, the Filipino leadership rejected the idea that the award represented a slap in the face of Duterte, despite Ressa, founder of the investigative journalism site Rappler, denouncing the Philippine president's anti-drug squeeze with her reports, so much so that she was condemned. to prison for defamation.
President Harry Roque's spokesman said that Ressa, on whom other charges are pending, will be judged independently and stressed that no muzzle is put on journalists in the country. "There was no slap in the face because, everyone knows, no one has ever been censored in the Philippines," Roque added, replying to a reporter's questions at a press conference. "Maria Ressa has yet to clear her name in our courts," the spokesperson said. "We leave it to our courts to decide his fate," he concluded.
The spokesman also cited Francisco Sionil Jose, winner of the Philippine National Artist Award, who had declared that Ressa did not deserve the award and that "the Filipino press is alive and well and not because of him", adding that there are no writers in the prisons in the country, nor is there a censorship regime. The writer added that although some journalists were actually killed after attacks on local politicians during the president's administration, "Duterte cannot be blamed for these murders."
Groups of Filipino journalists and human rights activists hailed the award to Maria Ressa, calling it a "triumph" in a country classified as one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters. Maria Ressa, 58, is currently on bail pending appeal, after being sentenced in June for defamation in a case in which she faces up to six years in prison. Two more cyber defamation charges were dropped earlier this year. The reporter, who also has US citizenship, said she hopes the award will serve as a protective shield for her and other Filipino journalists against physical attacks and online threats.
The journalist received the Nobel Peace Prize together with Russian colleague Dmitry Muratov, founder of Novaya Gazeta, who received the congratulations from the Kremlin a few hours after the news.