Guatemalan journalist receives house arrest after two years behind bars

A prominent investigative journalist has been released to house arrest in Guatemala, after his case shone a light on questions of democratic backsliding in the country.

Jose Ruben Zamora, the award-winning founder of the newspaper El Periodico, had been imprisoned for more than 800 days as he awaits a retrial on money laundering charges.

But a judge on Friday decided that the legal system could no longer keep the journalist locked up as his case continues to wind through the courts.

“We are imposing house arrest,” Judge Erick Garcia ruled on Friday. Garcia added that Zamora will be forced to appear every eight days before authorities, to ensure his compliance. “He is also forbidden to leave the country without judicial authorization.”

Prior to his arrest and detention, Zamora had built a reputation as one of Guatemala’s foremost investigative journalists, launching investigations into corruption at the highest levels of government.

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

In the lead-up to Friday’s decision, 19 international human rights and advocacy groups issued an open letter to the Guatemalan government calling for due process to be respected in Zamora’s case.

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

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

“Such conditions are a grave violation of human dignity and justice.”

Zamora’s case has long been riddled with what critics consider startling irregularities.

In July 2022, he was arrested for alleged money laundering. Prosecutors later levied a second set of charges against him, for obstruction of justice and using falsified documents.

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

Lawyers and judges formerly involved in the prosecution of corruption have found themselves under investigation, with some forced to flee the country.

A United Nations-backed effort to tamp out corruption, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), was also abruptly shuttered in 2022 after a government backlash.

Journalists too have been caught in the crosshairs, as some faced what they considered trumped-up charges.

Reporters at El Periodico, for instance, who covered Zamora’s trial faced charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The newspaper itself was forced to shutter in May 2023 after releasing a statement saying, “The persecution has intensified, as has the harassment of our advertisers.”

Zamora himself has long maintained his innocence, claiming the charges were a response to his work investigating corruption.

Prosecutors initially sought a 40-year sentence in his money laundering case. In June 2023, a court instead sentenced him to six years in prison.

But a few months later, in October 2023, an appeals court overturned the sentence. Zamora has been waiting behind bars for a decision on a retrial ever since.

Until Friday, he had been kept in the Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala City for nearly 810 days.

Among the irregularities in Zamora’s case has been his rotating cast of defence lawyers: Critics point out that at least 10 members of his defence team have been forced to resign, citing outside pressures.

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

In their letter on Friday, the international human rights organisations called Zamora’s situation “part of a broader, deeply troubling trend” of criminalising political opponents and critics.

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

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

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

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