MANILA - Journalist Maria Ressa faces a possible prison sentence when the verdict in her libel trial is handed down Monday in a case she and watchdogs say is aimed at silencing critics of President Ro
drigo Duterte.
Ressa, who Time magazine named as a Person of the Year in 2018, did not write the article and government investigators initially dismissed the businessman's allegation. But prosecutors say Rappler's typographical correction to the story in 2014 to change "evation" to "evasion" was a substantial modification and the article was thus covered by the law.
Ressa said she could face up to seven years behind bars if convicted by the judge. A previously cited figure of 12 years was due to her legal team's differing interpretations of the law, she said. Amnesty International said the "attacks" against Rappler were part of a wider government crackdown on media freedom in the Philippines.
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