Maria Ressa was acquitted of tax evasion by top Philippine court. (AFP Photo)
Maria Ressa, the Philippine journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, won a major legal victory on Wednesday after she was acquitted of tax evasion. She has been at the centre of several high-profile legal battles in the Philippines.
Here are five facts on Maria Ressa:
- Maria Ressa was born in the Philippines but moved to the United States as a child after martial law was imposed by Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s, according to the BBC. She studied in the prestigious Princeton University and returned to the Philippines.
- Her return coincided with the 1986 People Power Revolution, a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines to overthrow Marcos, said the BBC. The popular uprising inspired her to move into journalism.
- Ms Ressa worked in a number of media organisations - as bureau chief for CNN in the Philippines and Indonesia, and head of the news division of Philippine TV channel ABS-CBN.
- She co-founded the online news website Rappler in 2012. It rapidly grew into a popular news platform and has more than 4.5 million followers on Facebook. The website gained a lot of attention when Mr Duterte told Ms Ressa he has killed people.
- She published several articles against Mr Duterte and his policies, which led to several cases against the journalist and Rappler. In 2020, she was accused of cyber libel and two years before that, of tax violation - a case she has won. Ms Ressa was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2018 for leading Rappler through political storms. In 2021, Ms Ressa received the Nobel Peace Prize.
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