- QUITO, Ecuador: A judge in Ecuador has ruled in favor of President Rafael Correa’s libel suit against a newspaper over a column that questioned an army raid to rescue the leader from striking policemen.
The court has sentenced a former columnist and three executives of the newspaper El Universo to three years in prison and fined them a total of $30 million. It also is fining the newspaper company $10 million.
Regional and international press freedom groups have criticized Correa’s fight with news media, accusing the leftist leader of trying to muzzle the media.