Guatemala

“We are hugely relieved that after more than 800 days, Jose Rubén Zamora’s hellish ordeal in a Guatemalan prison has finally been brought to an end with the court decision for his release to house arrest. But let’s be clear: house arrest is not freedom. It is another form of detention” – RSF

Eight hundred days after the arrest of journalist Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín, the organisations ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited, Freedom House, Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP), Fundamedios, Protection International Mesoamérica, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the IFEX-ALC network reaffirm the urgent demand for the prompt and unconditional release of the journalist and founder of elPeriódico.

José Rubén Zamora’s arbitrary detention highlights that he has been consistently denied a fair trial, and there is no justification for his ongoing imprisonment.

Zamora is a symbol of the persecution against journalists in Guatemala and the region.

CPJ urged Guatemala’s judiciary to grant house arrest to José Rubén Zamora after nearly two years in solitary confinement and to give him the chance to prove his innocence in court.

The imprisoned founder of “El Periódico”, which made its name by exposing corruption in the country’s ruling classes, is awaiting a new trial on money-laundering charges that press freedom groups call politically motivated.

The imprisonment of journalist and founder of the newspaper ‘elPeriódico’, Jose Rubén Zamora – also a 2023 laureate of RSF’s Press Freedom Prize – has become a flagrant and unavoidable emblem of the press freedom situation in Guatemala.

The imprisonment of José Rubén Zamora is becoming an unavoidable imperative for the new government of Bernardo Arévalo.

“It is imperative that the police apparatus and executive bodies cease the persecution of journalists and the Guatemalan authorities, without delay, release ‘elPeriódico’ publisher Jose Rubén Zamora.”

Another example of the growing campaign for Zamora’s release, the resolution also calls on the Guatemalan prosecutor’s office not to obstruct the work of journalists.

A Guatemalan appeals court has overturned the six-year prison sentence imposed in June. It is more urgent than ever that Zamora, who has already been detained for more than a year, is released without further delay.

Last May, eight international organisations, with the support of two networks advocating for freedom of expression and the press, visited Guatemala to understand the situation ahead of the general elections.

The mission revealed the stigmatization, criminalization, and judicialisation of journalists and communicators in the country.

Fourteen organizations call for justice in Zamora’s case and respect for the rule of law

“This cruel persecution must stop now. We deplore José Rubén Zamora’s six-year prison sentence and the mistreatment to which he has been subjected, and we are very concerned about his state of health.”