\n High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa's libel trial opens Tuesday in a case that press freedom advocates see as government retaliation for her news site's critical reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ressa, who leads online outlet Rappler and was named a Time Magazine \"Person of the Year\" in 2018 for her journalism, is out on bail and faces years in prison if convicted.\n<\/p>\n
\n This case is among a string of criminal charges that have hit Ressa and Rappler over the past year, prompting allegations that authorities are targeting her and her team for their work,\n<\/p>\n
\n The news portal has reported extensively and often critically on Duterte's policies, including a deadly crackdown that rights groups say may be a crime against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The message that the government is sending is very clear,\" Ressa told reporters in February as she posted bail after spending the night in jail over the libel case: \"Be silent or you're next.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The case that opens Tuesday centres on a Rappler report from 2012 about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge of the nation's top court.\n<\/p>\n
\n Government investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, but state prosecutors later decided to file charges.\n<\/p>\n
\n The legal foundation of the case is a controversial \"cybercrime law\" aimed at online offences ranging from stalking to child pornography.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ressa, 55, argues the law did not take effect until months after the story was published.\n<\/p>\n
\n Government lawyers say it is effectively a new article since Rappler had updated it in 2014 to fix a typographical error.\n<\/p>\n
\n While the plaintiff is a private citizen, like all criminal cases in the Philippines the suit is prosecuted by government lawyers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ressa and Rappler also face tax and corporate fraud cases.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ressa's presence in court is not mandatory and she is not expected to attend the hearing, according to Rappler.\n<\/p>\n
\n The libel case has drawn international attention, with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expressing concern over democratic rights.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who joined Ressa's legal team this month, said the case echoed a recurring theme in her work, where \"journalists who expose abuses face arrest while those who commit the abuses do so with impunity\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte, who denies being behind the case, has singled out Rappler for criticism, also banning it from covering his public events and forbidding government officials from talking to Rappler reporters.\n<\/p>\n
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\n TIME INC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa's libel trial opens Tuesday in a case that press freedom advocates see as government retaliation for her news site's critical reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa, who leads online outlet Rappler and was named a Time Magazine \"Person of the Year\" in 2018 for her journalism, is out on bail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-41983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n