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A coalition of 80 international journalists, human rights, and advocacy groups on Wednesday, June 2, welcomed the dismissal of the second cyber libel charge against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.
The #HoldTheLine Coalition strongly urged President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration to follow suit and drop all eight remaining cases and charges against the award-winning journalist.
“The Duterte government should end its campaign of harassment and persecution against Maria Ressa and Rappler immediately and cease prosecuting the journalist and her news outlet for their public interest journalism,” the HTL Steering Committee said in a statement.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ), and leaders of the United States National Press Club also called for the dismissal of all remaining cases which they said are “intended to silence” Ressa.
“We hope this is only the beginning of similar actions to follow. #CFWIJ hopes to see all cases against Maria dropped and until then, is proud to #HoldTheLine,” CFWIJ said in a tweet.
“We are pleased to hear the good news that one libel charge against journalist Maria Ressa in the Philippines has been dismissed by the court and her bail has been ordered refunded to her,” said Lisa Nicole Matthews, NPC president, and Angela Greiling Keane, president of the NPC Journalism Institute.
“These legal actions were unwarranted from the beginning and served as nothing more than a tactic to silence one of the world’s leading voices for press freedom,” Matthews and Keane said.
On Tuesday, Judge Andres Soriano of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 dismissed the case after businessman Wilfredo Keng withdrew his complaint.
In dismissing the case with prejudice, the court found that “the prosecution can no longer prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”
This case was Keng’s second cyber libel complaint against Ressa, over the same 2012 Rappler story. In 2020, a Manila court convicted Ressa and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr but the decision is still on appeal.
Ressa faces eight other charges before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), the Pasig City Regional Trial Court, and the Manila Regional Trial Court. – Rappler.com
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