In Guatemala, journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder of a newspaper critical of the government, was sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering. The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) denounced that it is a “low blow” to freedom of expression
In Guatemala, journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder of a newspaper critical of the government, was sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering. The Inter American Press Association (SIP) He denounced that it is a “low blow” to freedom of expression.
The ruling handed down on Wednesday was also criticized by Washington, which said it “threats independent journalism”, as well as by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which called it “shameful”.
?? Given the six-year prison sentence against journalist José Rubén Zamora, the IAPA reiterated its strong criticism of the judicial system of #Guatemala and institutional fragility in that country.
? https://t.co/xk3wMVGiMJ pic.twitter.com/DyPtegAWdw
— SIP • IAPA (@sip_oficial) June 15, 2023
“This is a low blow for press freedom in Guatemala,” IAPA President Michael Greenspon said in a statement.
It is “contradictory or, at least suspicious, that a journalist, whose denunciations of public corruption led presidents and high officials to jail, ends up in jail,” added the head of the IAPA.
Zamora owned El Periódico de Guatemala, a newspaper critical of the government of President Alejandro Giammattei, which published articles on acts of corruption and stopped publishing a month ago. He has been held for almost 11 months in the Mariscal Zavala prison, inside a military barracks in the capital.
The Prosecutor’s Office had requested 40 years in prison for the journalist for money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail, but he was acquitted of the last two.
El Periódico, an important communication medium in Guatemala, closed its activities on May 15 after 27 years of circulation, after denouncing criminal prosecution and financial pressure, aggravated by the arrest of its owner.
The Prosecutor’s Office accused Zamora of trying to launder the equivalent of about $37,500 “from blackmail and extortion” of businessmen, charges denied by Zamora.
The journalist announced that he will appeal the ruling to annul the sentence, as will prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who intends to raise the sentence to 40 years in prison.
“Although the IAPA is respectful of judicial rulings, we cannot fail to reiterate our criticism of the Guatemalan justice system for its lack of independence,” said Greenspon.
Erosion of freedom in Guatemala
For his part, the head of US diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said that this ruling “threatens independent journalism and freedom of expression in Guatemala.”
“The world will be aware that their health and physical integrity are protected,” Nichols wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday, alluding to Zamora.
CPJ called the conviction of Zamora, whose wife and son left the country for fear of arrest, “shameful.”
The ruling is “a clear testimony to the erosion of freedom of expression in the country and to the desperate attempts by the government of President Alejandro Giammattei to criminalize journalism,” CPJ program director Carlos Martínez said in a statement. .
“Guatemalan officials must put an end to the absurd farce of the criminal proceedings against them. It is time for José Rubén Zamora to be released, because his only ‘crime’ has been the fearless exercise of his profession,” he pointed out.
The criticism was joined by the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA) and the rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca.
Zamora accuses President Giammattei and US-sanctioned Attorney General Consuelo Porras of fabricating the case to silence him over publications about government corruption.
The journalist also faces two other cases opened by the Prosecutor’s Office.
His trial began after the arrest and exile of several former prosecutors and judges who investigated high-profile cases of corruption, who are now mostly accused of abuse of authority.
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