Guatemala court opens door to freeing jailed journalist
May 15, 2024 7:50 PM
By Agence France-Presse
FILE - Newspaper founder and editor Jose Ruben Zamora leaves in handcuffs after a court hearing in Guatemala City, June 14, 2023. A court on May 15, 2024, granted him a conditional release from jail.
GUATEMALA CITY —
A Guatemalan court on Wednesday granted a prominent journalist and corruption critic a conditional release in a case of alleged graft, though he must clear another legal hurdle before being freed from prison. Jose Ruben Zamora has rejected money-laundering accusations against him as retaliation for his newspaper's reporting on alleged government corruption under former right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei.
A criminal court granted the 67-year-old home detention while awaiting a retrial on those charges, its president, Veronica Ruiz, announced. The three judges decided there was no danger of Zamora fleeing or obstructing the investigation and criminal proceedings against him. However, he will not be freed from the military barracks in Guatemala City until a separate obstruction-of-justice case against him is resolved.
Zamora told journalists after the ruling that he was waiting for a hearing date in that case, which he said he believed would be "dismissed and I can go home." In October 2023, an appeals court overturned a six-year prison sentence for Zamora — founder of the now-shuttered El Periodico — and ordered a new trial. A date has not yet been set.
Press freedom and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as a "witch hunt." On Tuesday, Colombia's prestigious Gabo Foundation named Zamora the winner of its annual journalism award for his "tenacious and courageous professional work."
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Christian Gutiérrez/AgenciaOcote
RSF_en
The decision of Guatemala’s Ninth Criminal Court to grant elPeriódico publisher Jose Rubén Zamora's request for substitutive measures is an important and positive step, but reciprocal decisions are needed in two other cases against him to allow for his release from prison. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes the ruling and underscores the urgent need for rapid judicial action to allow for Zamora’s release without further delay.
On 15 May, Guatemala’s Ninth Criminal Court ordered the release of publisher Jose Rubén Zamora, detained for nearly two years on money-laundering charges. The three judges ruled unanimously that there was no longer justification to keep Zamora in jail, noting that there was no risk of absconding and that he was not considered a threat to the investigation. The court decision stipulates that the elPeriódico newspaper founder should be released to house arrest while the case against him is ongoing. It requires Zamora to appear before the Public Prosecutor's Office once a month and prohibits him from leaving the country.
However, due to two other ongoing cases against Zamora, which have been systematically postponed on several occasions over the past year, he must remain detained until reciprocal decisions are reached in the other cases.
"We welcome the court's decision in favour of Jose Rubén Zamora, which serves as a first step towards redressing the injustice that put him behind bars. However, it is imperative that this decision is not undermined by further inexplicable court delays, as we have seen so many times over the past year in other spurious cases against Zamora. Each day that he now remains detained is a further injustice. The world will be carefully watching the next steps of the Guatemalan judiciary".
Artur Romeu
Director of RSF's Latin America Office
The court decision followed the announcement on 14 May that Zamora had won the prestigious 2024 Gabo Award for Excellence “for his more than three decades of tenacious and courageous professional work dedicated to uncovering the corruption and human rights abuses that have plagued Guatemala.” Speaking at a media briefing in London organised by RSF that same day, Zamora’s son, Jose Carlos Zamora, highlighted the urgent need for sustained international attention to his father’s case while the judicial processes continue in Guatemala.
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https://rsf.org/en/guatemala-court-decision-zamora-s-release-house-arrest-welcome-step-urgent-need-remains-reciprocal