New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed news that Equatoguinean cartoonist and blogger Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé is free from prison after serving more than five months in a Malabo jail on false charges of money laundering and counterfeiting.
Judge Agustín Chicampo Barila, of the Malabo Provincial Chamber, acquitted Ebalé after the state's main witness, a policeman, recanted under cross-examination on February 27 and said he had only been following orders when he implicated Ebalé in criminal activity, said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, a U.S. based organization advocating for human rights in Equatorial Guinea. The state indicated it could not proceed with the case and the judge formally acquitted Ebalé, who was released from prison today.
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