QUITO – A judge in Ecuador jailed three directors of an opposition newspaper and a former columnist yesterday and fined them and the paper $40 million for libelling President Rafael Correa in an article about a police mutiny last year.
State media said the judge sentenced three brothers who ran the El Universonewspaper and their former columnist to three years in prison. The paper said its lawyers planned to appeal.
President Correa sued El Universo after it published an article in February about circumstances surrounding last September’s mutiny, when rebellious police officers briefly took the president hostage at a hospital.
“This sets a precedent that will help them to think a thousand times before using proxies to damage people’s reputations,” the president said after the judgment.
President Correa, a fiery left-winger allied with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, denounced September’s incident as a coup attempt.
The opposition said the claim was used by his government to justify authoritarian measures.
The president rarely shies away from a fight, whether it be with international bondholders, oil companies or local bankers and media companies that criticise his policies.
El Universorejected the judge's ruling and said in a statement its lawyers planned to file an appeal soon. – (Reuters)