Jailed Guatemalan journalist Zamora granted house arrest

Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, founder of the defunct El Periodico newspaper was granted house arrest – Copyright AFP Orlando ESTRADA

A Guatemalan judge on Friday granted the request for prominent journalist Jose Ruben Zamora to be placed under house arrest, months after the writer’s conditional release had been revoked.

Judge Erick Garcia concluded the near-eight-hour hearing in Guatemala City by ruling in favor of the request “for human rights reasons,” adding “the extent of the prison sentence has exceeded the limits.”

A stark critic of the government of former right-wing president Alejandro Giammattei, Zamora has been detained on money laundering charges for more than 800 days.

The 68-year-old founder of the now-shuttered El Periodico was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2023. 

In May, he was granted a requested transfer to house arrest from the military barracks where he’s been held, only for an appellate court to revoke the request a month later.

A panel of experts reported to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that Zamora’s imprisonment conditions were akin to “torture,” with him remaining in solitary confinement in near constant darkness for months on end.

Giammattei has been accused by rights groups of overseeing a crackdown on anti-graft prosecutors and journalists during his term, which ended in January. 

He was replaced by President Bernardo Arevalo, an underdog anti-corruption campaigner who overcame attempts by the political establishment to block his inauguration. 

Zamora’s detention has been criticized by the United States, international rights and press organizations, as well as by President Arevalo.

“Zamora is coming home. Justice is beginning to be served, the dark chapter is going to end,” Arevalo wrote on social platform X after the court’s decision.

Press freedom and rights groups have denounced Zamora’s prosecution as a “witch hunt.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expressed relief that Zamora’s “hellish ordeal behind bars will finally end,” but warned that “house arrest is not freedom. It is another form of detention” and called for a “full and unconditional release.”

The Central American country’s prosecution will appeal the court’s decision on grounds that the risk of Zamora fleeing the country remains, prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche told AFP.