Freedom of expression advocates say the cases against one of Guatemala’s most prominent journalists are in retaliation for his investigations into corruption.
It has been four years since Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora was arrested on charges that, according to numerous observers, are in retaliation to his reporting on alleged corruption and government misconduct.
Although authorities have granted him house arrest, they have also repeatedly altered the course of the proceedings against him, leaving him trapped in procedural uncertainty that his attorneys describe as the criminalization of freedom of expression in Guatemala(opens in new tab).
“We are very happy that he can be under house arrest, but we would like him to be acquitted of all charges and be free because he is truly innocent,” Milena Klimberg van Marrewijk, an adviser with the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, an organization based in New York that provides support to Zamora, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “There is no evidence” against him, she added.
On July 28, the Second Appeals Court in Guatemala upheld the annulment(opens in new tab) of the only conviction issued against Zamora and ordered a new trial. However, he still faces three other criminal cases, and his defense and family fear he could be sent back to prison at any time.
On the anniversary of his arrest, Zamora’s family and several organizations are calling for his release and an end to what they describe as a strategy to silence the press.
“After 1,468 days without due process, without hearings and without a sentence, the facts remain as clear today as they were on the first day: he is innocent. He was arbitrarily detained, tortured, stripped of his rights and today remains under house arrest because of the inaction of Guatemala’s Judicial Branch,” his son José Carlos Zamora told LJR. “They must immediately hold the pending hearings, declare his innocence and restore his immediate and unconditional freedom.”
The Media Freedom Coalition, an international alliance representing the governments of 51 countries around the world, recalled that the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has determined that Zamora’s imprisonment was arbitrary(opens in new tab) and called for his release. The coalition also urged Guatemala’s prosecutor’s office to ensure a prompt and transparent new trial.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also marked the anniversary, highlighting that Zamora remains detained “without due process, without hearings and without a sentence” because of the “inaction of the Judicial Branch.”
In one of the cases against Zamora, the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) has accused him of blackmail, money laundering-related crimes and influence peddling.
Zamora has consistently denied the accusations and said they are retaliation for his journalistic work. For years, Zamora and the team at elPeriódico, the newspaper he founded, investigated numerous public officials, including presidents.
In June 2023, he was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to six years in prison(opens in new tab). Klimberg said it has been three years of filing appeals. In October 2023, the sentence was overturned(opens in new tab). That decision was appealed, but on July 28, 2026, the conviction was annulled again and a new trial was ordered.
In the second case, which also began in 2023, Zamora was accused of conspiracy to obstruct justice and using falsified documents. A date for that hearing — which could determine whether he is found guilty or innocent of those charges — has not been set yet, Klimberg said.
The third case started when Ricardo Méndez Ruiz, director of the Foundation Against Terrorism — a right-wing nongovernmental organization — used Guatemala’s femicide law to accuse Zamora of discrimination over alleged misogynistic language directed at then-Attorney General María Consuelo Porras. A recent investigation by Reporters Without Borders highlighted the role of Méndez Ruiz’s organization in targeting journalists(opens in new tab), particularly Zamora.
That case began in August 2023 after Zamora published an article about Porras(opens in new tab). A hearing was scheduled this year but has not yet taken place.
House arrest measures in the first and second cases have been upheld by different courts. However, Klimberg said uncertainty remains and that “it is difficult to say definitively that [Zamora] could not return to prison.”
According to experts, the cases against Zamora have been marked by due process violations and strategies aimed at delaying any decision that could benefit him.
After the United Nations Working Group determined that Zamora’s detention was arbitrary and highlighted other irregularities, the journalist’s family and defense have pressed Guatemala’s new attorney general, Gabriel Estuardo García Luna, to ensure due process guarantees are respected.
“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention already determined that José Rubén has been arbitrarily detained for three years, and the Guatemalan state has done nothing to reassess his criminalization,” Klimberg said. “And we are closely monitoring that.”
Zamora’s case was presented two years ago before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over violations of several rights, including freedom of expression. The filing also included the impact on elPeriódico, which permanently closed in May 2023(opens in new tab) due to the accusations against Zamora.
This story was translated with assistance from AI and reviewed by Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera.
