Correa: Sentence penalises freedom of extortion, not of expression

Quito, Ecuador, July 26 2011 (Prensa Latina)

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=309781&Itemid=1

The Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, affirmed that the judicial sentence against the ex-boss of the newspaper Opinión and three directors of the daily El Universo is an historic milestone, which penalises the freedom of extortion, not the freedom of expression.

“It sets a precedent against a common practice which is to insult and defame in the name of the freedom of expression,” underlined Correa after stressing that it forms part of one of the hardest battles against one of the greatest powers of Ecuador and all Latin America.

“Until not long ago,” he added in reference to the power of the private press, “they thought themselves all-embracing, they had no scruples, nor do they have, but from now on they are going to have to think twice about their excesses.”

The 15^th Criminal Court Judge of Guayas province, Juan Paredes, sentenced to three years in prison Emilio Palacio (ex-editor of Opinión) and Carlos, César and Nicolás Pérez (directors of El Universo), and ordered the company to make payments in the sums of millions.

In a tough speech given last night in the framework of a mass meeting for the 476^th anniversary of the coastal city of Guayaquil, Correa warned that now not only he who defames can be prosecuted, but also those who contribute to the publication of those libels.

“The freedom of expression can never imply the freedom of defamation and destruction of others' honour,” he stressed, and alleged that the trick of the media owners was to obtain whatever unqualified [things] to throw mud to the left and right.

“For these [things] stain the honour of those that they want to persecute, and afterwards the owners wash their hands, saying that it was the opinion of the coumnist,” he explained.

Palacio is the author of the article “No more lies” (published in El Universo on February 6 2011) in which he accused Correa of ordering [troops or police] to open fire at will against a hospital full of civilians during the attempted coup d'etat of September 30 2010.

During his speech, Correa refuted the rumours that accused him of wanting to make himself a millionaire with his [presidential] severance pay and reiterated that, when all is said and done, not a single centavo [cent] will be for his personal wealth and will go entirely to the Yasuní ITT project.

“We have to finish once and for all with the so-called opinion state and establish the rights state. We have had enough of media lynching and manipulation,” stressed the leader.

Translated by James Tweedie

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