A Manila appeals court has acquitted Philippine Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her media company Rappler of charges of tax evasion.
The verdict on Wednesday stated that the public prosecutor's office had not been able to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.
Till Fähnders
Political correspondent for Southeast Asia.
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The process dealt with alleged missing tax payments in connection with investments by foreign investors in the media company.
The then government of President Rodrigo Duterte first raised the allegations in 2018.
Another process is still ongoing
Ressa believes these and other lawsuits against her and the company are politically motivated.
Among other things, Rappler had reported critically about Duterte's bloody anti-drug war.
"Today the facts are victorious, truth is victorious, justice is victorious," said the 59-year-old, visibly emotional journalist to the press after the verdict.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was honored in 2021 for her commitment to press freedom together with the Russian journalist Dmitri Muratow, must continue to fight for her freedom after this verdict.
Among other things, the appeal is still pending against a judge's decision from 2020, with which she and the author were sentenced to more than six years in prison for an allegedly defamatory Internet article.