Nobel Laureate Ressa Accuses Duterte's Aide of Making 'Malicious' Posts Online

The Philippines' Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa has filed a complaint against a top member of the Duterte government's media team over alleged "malicious and defamatory" posts made on Facebook.

Ressa has been a vocal critic of Duterte and the aggressive drug war he launched in 2016, leading to a number of criminal charges, probes and online attacks against her and Rappler, the news site she co-founded.

In the complaint filed to the country's Ombudsman, Ressa alleges that Lorraine Badoy referred to her as a "sociopath" and "rotten soul." The 58-year-old Ressa said the undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office also accused her of being the "mouthpiece of enemies of the state," a mention of communist rebels. Additionally, she referred to Ressa's Nobel Peace Prize as a "Nobel Piss Prize".

The prize was awarded to Reissa and the Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov in October for their efforts to protect freedom of expression. "The Facebook posts are malicious and defamatory, and transgress boundaries of professional decorum and protocol," Ressa said in an official statement, citing the complaint. "Her attacks have also emboldened others to join in their vicious attacks against me."

At least seven court cases are pending against Reissa, including an appeal against a conviction in a cyber-libel case for which she is on bail and will serve up to six years in prison if convicted.