CA allows Ressa travel to Norway for Nobel Peace Prize award

The Court of Appeals. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/COURT OF APPEALS WEBSITE

MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Appeals has allowed Rappler CEO Maria Ressa to personally receive the Nobel Peace Prize award in Oslo, Norway.

In a 9-page ruling, the appeals court Special 7th Division has imposed several conditions for her Oslo trip.

First, Ressa should inform the court of her return to the Philippines from her Boston trip.

Second, her previous travel bond of P500,000 will be applied to her December 8 to 13 Oslo, Norway trip.

Third, Ressa needs to advise the court of her return to the country within 24 hours from her arrival.

The awarding ceremony is set on December 10, the death anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel who founded the awards in his 1895 last will.

Ressa and her co-accused, Reynaldo Santos, were earlier found guilty by the Manila Court of cyber libel. They appealed the guilty verdict to the Court of Appeals.

The appellate court earlier allowed Ressa to travel to the US to attend a program at Harvard University and visit her parents there.

The appeals court’s 8th Division which is handling Ressa’s appeal allowed her to travel to Boston from October 31 to December 2 to attend the 30-day program at the Center for Public Leadership and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, saying she is not a flight risk and was able to prove her travel is necessary.

In between, she will be visiting her parents in Florida during Thanksgiving on November 25.

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