AP – Ecuador judge orders jail, fines for newspaper
Date: Jul 21, 2011
The author of the column in question calls the ruling “a barbarity” and says that “the dictatorship wants to end freedom of expression”:
An Ecuadorean judge sentenced three newspaper directors and a former columnist to three years in prison Wednesday for libeling President Rafael Correa in a column that questioned an army raid to rescue him from striking policemen.
The court also fined the four a total of $30 million and levied an additional $10 million fine against El Universo, Ecuador’s main opposition newspaper.
Regional and international press freedom groups have protested Correa’s libel suit against the newspaper, saying it was part of an effort to muzzle the media in the Andean nation.
Share
Tweets
