José Ruben Zamora, founder and President of investigative newspaper El Periódico and one of Guatemala’s leading independent journalists, was arrested at his home on the evening of 29 July.
Prosecutors searched Zamora’s home, accusing him of money laundering and related offences, charges frequently confected to prosecute critics. Zamora was ordered three months of preventive detention and remains in jail. He denies the charges against him.
Investigators also raided the offices of El Periódico, holding some of its employees in place for more than 16 hours. Bank accounts of el Periódico were seized for a week.
Zamora’s lawyers received access to documents detailing the exact charges against him only five days after the arrest. The initial charging hearing, originally scheduled for August 1, was postponed multiple times before beginning on Monday, August 8.
Zamora’s arrest sparked an outpouring of condemnation, including from local press groups and international press freedom organisations, who have described the arrest as a blatant attempt to punish Zamora for his newspaper’s exposure of corruption at the heart of the government of President Alejandro Giammattei.
Scores of anti-corruption prosecutors, judges and activists are currently under police investigation or have fled the country, as the government seeks to crack down on transparency.
Fears are growing that the government may now be turning it’s sights on silencing independent media.
Zamora has been at the forefront of exposing human rights abuses and corruption in Guatemala for more than two decades and has won multiple national and international awards for his work.
Read more here:
- International Journalists’ Network https://ijnet.org/en/story/under-fire-guatemala-independent-media-forges-ahead
- The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/30/world/americas/guatemala-journalist-zamora-arrest.html
- The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ap-guatemala-city-journalism-twitter-massachusetts-b2134833.html
- The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/31/guatemala-zamora-arrest-corruption-crackdown/
- Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/guatemala-detains-renowned-journalist-money-laundering-blackmail-allegations-2022-07-30
- The Economist https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/08/11/the-drift-to-authoritarianism-accelerates-in-central-america
- Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/19/opinion/alarming-erosion-press-freedom-central-america/
- IJNet https://ijnet.org/en/story/arrest-award-winning-journalist-puts-guatemalan-press-freedom-line
- CPJ https://cpj.org/2022/07/cpj-calls-for-immediate-release-of-guatemalan-journalist-jose-ruben-zamora
- ICFJ https://www.icfj.org/news/icfj-calls-guatemalan-authorities-immediately-release-jose-ruben-zamora
- IPI https://ipi.media/ipi-demands-immediate-release-of-guatemalan-journalist-jose-ruben-zamora
- RSF https://rsf.org/en/newspaper-director-jailed-guatemala-s-increasingly-authoritarian-government