A regional court has ordered Venezuela to allow a television channel that was critical of the country's socialist administration back on the air.
The Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights told President Nicolas Maduro to grant Radio Caracas Television its old frequency in a court document made public Monday.
The court, which is part of the Organization of American States, said the state violated the right to free expression when it declined to renew the channel's broadcast license.
Maduro's mentor President Hugo Chavez forced the channel off the air in 2007 after five decades of broadcasting. Its frequency became a public access channel. At the time, Chavez said Radio Caracas Television had backed a 2002 against him and was biased.
Maduro's administration has been accused of censoring unflattering journalism.
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