Guatemalan journalist receives house arrest after two years behind bars | Press Freedom News

A prominent investigative journalist has been placed under house arrest in Guatemala after his case shed light on questions of democratic backsliding in the country.

Jose Ruben Zamora, the award-winning founder of the newspaper El Periodico, has been jailed for more than 800 days and is awaiting a retrial on money laundering charges.

But a judge ruled on Friday that the legal system could no longer detain the journalist as his case continued to be heard in court.

“We impose house arrest,” Judge Erick Garcia ruled Friday. Garcia added that Zamora will be forced to appear before authorities every eight days to ensure his compliance. “He is also prohibited from leaving the country without judicial approval.”

Before his arrest and imprisonment, Zamora had earned a reputation as one of Guatemala’s leading investigative journalists and launched investigations into corruption at the highest levels of government.

Press freedom groups – and Zamora himself – have argued that his detention was retaliation for his reporting and that of his newsroom at El Periodico.

Ahead of Friday’s decision, 19 international human rights and advocacy groups sent an open letter to the Guatemalan government calling for due process in the Zamora case.

The signatories, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, also denounced “the violations of his human rights.”

“International experts have raised alarming concerns that Zamora’s detention conditions could constitute torture and cruel and inhumane treatment,” they wrote.

“Such conditions represent a serious violation of human dignity and justice.”

The Zamora case has long been marked by irregularities that have alarmed critics.

In July 2022 he was arrested for alleged money laundering. Prosecutors later filed a second charge against him for obstruction of justice and using forged documents.

But press freedom advocates say Zamora’s case reflects other attempts in Guatemala to use the court system to silence critics.

Lawyers and judges previously involved in corruption prosecutions were investigated. Some of them had to flee the country.

A United Nations-backed anti-corruption initiative, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), also abruptly closed in 2022 following a government backlash.

Journalists also found themselves in the crosshairs, with some seeing what they saw as fabricated allegations.

For example, reporters from El Periodico who covered Zamora’s trial were accused of conspiring to obstruct justice.

The newspaper itself was forced to close in May 2023 after publishing a statement saying: “Persecution has increased, as has harassment of our advertisers.”

Zamora himself has long maintained his innocence and claims the charges are a response to his work investigating corruption.

The public prosecutor’s office initially demanded a 40-year prison sentence in his money laundering case. In June 2023, a court sentenced him to six years in prison instead.

But a few months later, in October 2023, an appeals court overturned the verdict. Since then, Zamora has been behind bars awaiting a decision on a retrial.

As of Friday, he had been held at the Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala City for nearly 810 days.

Among the irregularities in Zamora’s case is the rotation of his defense team: critics point out that at least ten members of his defense team were forced to resign due to outside pressure.

Others have questioned the quality of the evidence. The money laundering allegation stems in part from the testimony of disgraced former banker Ronald Garcia Navarijo, who himself is accused of corruption.

In their letter Friday, international human rights organizations called Zamora’s situation “part of a broader, deeply disturbing trend” of criminalization of political opponents and critics.

“This tactic is frequently used against human rights defenders, journalists, judicial officials and others,” they wrote.

The American branch of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom group that was involved in the letter, issued a separate statement after the decision welcoming Zamora’s transition to house arrest.

“This step forward marks a new stage for him, his family and everyone who fought tirelessly for his freedom,” it said wrote on social media.

Zamora, for his part, told local media in Guatemala: “I hope that I can go home to sleep tonight, although I have no doubt that they will find a way to lock me up again.”