Maria Ressa looks and sounds like she is on top of the world, and understandably so – this has been a huge victory for her.
A court in the Philippines has acquitted the journalist and her news outlet Rappler of tax evasion, in a move hailed as a win for press freedom.
In an interview for the BBC, she talks about what she calls the “weaponisation of the law” against her – and how it took more than four years to get to this point.
“This is a day that we had hoped would happen sooner,” she told me over zoom from Manila – beaming smiles as she spoke.
“And you know, it went down to these three things, facts, truth and justice. That is who won today.”
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