The International Press Institute (IPI) condemns this week’s conviction of two Ecuadorean journalists on charges of causing moral harm to President Rafael Correa.

Christian Zurita and Juan Carlos Calderón were each ordered to pay US $1 million to the Ecuadorean leader, in addition to $100,000 to the president’s lawyers, because of their 2010 book “Big Brother”.

The book examines the alleged link between Fabricio Correa, the president’s older brother, and firms that received state contracts worth millions of dollars. The book included statements from Fabricio Correa confirming that the president knew of the contracts, an assertion the president has denied since it was first made public in the newspaper Expreso in June 2009.

Since the verdict and sentence were handed down, however, Fabricio Correa has publicly backed the journalists and their investigation. In statements made to the Colombian broadcaster NTN24 and through postings on his Twitter account, Fabricio Correa has insisted that the president knew about the business connections.

The Ecuadorean public has further questioned the fact that the ruling was first delivered to Ramiro Aguilar, the lawyer for the respondents, on Tuesday morning – despite the fact that the state-controlled TC Television reported details of the sentence on Monday night.

The text of the decision, published by a regional magistrate, declared that the journalists’ book humiliated the president and was an affront to his honour. During the trial, the journalists’ lawyer asked Correa – unsuccessfully – to prove the supposed damages through a medical examination.

According to the newspaper El Universo, the judge in the case, Mercedes Pontilla, concluded that the plaintiff did not exhibit proof of the claimed physical or psychological suffering. However, she wrote that such proof would not have been useful “for the simple reason that moral damage refers to the spiritual, to the immaterial, to that which only the person suffering can be aware of, making it unnecessary that a medical or psychiatric professional confirm such suffering.”

IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “Although the trial was conducted in a civil court, the fine is utterly disproportionate. There are also doubts about the fairness of the verdict. The book constitutes a journalistic investigation into a case of alleged corruption, and in a true democracy the authorities must be willing to face public scrutiny.”

Christian Zurita told local media that the book reflected upon alleged corruption in the first four years of the Correa government. In a statement to the newspaper Hoy, he added that since the sentence established that the damage was spiritual, the president would only be paid in “prayers”. For his part, Juan Carlos Calderón called the sentence “disproportionate, absurd, and irrational”.

The journalists, who were sued by Correa in February 2011, plan to appeal the verdict and exhaust all national judicial mechanisms before taking the case to international bodies, local media reported. The reports pointed out that the president had initially sued them for $10 million in damages.

Local journalist associations have expressed their concern about the decision. According to the newspaper Hoy, Diego Cornejo, president of the Association of Newspaper Editors, said: “A sentence such as this will restrict investigative reporting (…). If that happens, corruption will ‘end’, since what isn’t known, doesn’t exist.”

Cesar Ricaurte, spokesman for the local press-freedom organisation Fundamedios, added, “This is a clear signal that investigations that scrutinise possible cases of corruption in the exercise of political power will not be tolerated.” For the president of the National Union of Journalists, Vicente Ordonez, the verdict in the Big Brother case is an attempt to force self-censorship and plant fear among journalists and media outlets: “They want a meek press that doesn’t investigate, that conforms to the party line”, he said.

IPI is highly concerned about the rapid decline of press freedom in Ecuador. According to Fundamedios, in 2011 there were 156 cases of aggression against media outlets, journalists, and citizens exercising their right to free expression. In addition, a decision is expected soon from the Ecuadorean Supreme Court in the case of the newspaper El Universo, whose three owners in addition to an editor were ordered to pay $40 million to Correa after losing a defamation suit brought by the president.

“It would seem that government authorities have become accustomed to carrying out both verbal and legal attacks against journalists and media organisations,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Mills said. “We urge the Ecuadorean justice system to act independently when considering the appeals in the Big Brother and El Universo cases. These cases appear to be about punishing critical journalists and promoting complacent journalism, actions that ultimately affect the Ecuadorean people.”

In related news, Emilio Palacio, the El Universo editor and columnist previously mentioned, has requested political asylum in the United States. As IPI previously reported, Palacio has been in Miami since August 2011, when the verdict against El Universo was handed down. Palacio was sentenced at that time to three years in prison.