Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, 69-year-old director of the now defunct newspaper elPeriódico, was released from pretrial detention and granted house arrest for the second time on Feb. 12.
Judge José Morales ordered his release earlier in the day after finding that the 1,295 Zamora was imprisoned exceeded the potential sentence he could receive if convicted of the crimes for which he’s accused.
“I feel at peace. I have spent more time in prison than I should have and endured torture and psychological repression,” Zamora told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “I have been a living dead man, watching my agony in slow motion for an indefinite period, but it has been worth it. My arbitrary detention exposed the corruption and the use of the justice system to silence critical voices more than my thirty years at elPeriódico. Today the world has its eyes on Guatemala.”
In highly criticized cases, Zamora has been repeatedly sent to prison over more than three years.
“This is a very important afternoon for me, although I think it is very possible that I will return,” Zamora told reporters upon being released, as reported by El País.
Zamora was sent to prison in July 2022 on money laundering charges. In June 2023, he was convicted in that case and sentenced to six years in prison.
A judge granted him house arrest in October 2024, but he was sent back to prison in March 2025 following appeals from prosecutors.
In October 2025, a court granted his appeal in the money laundering case and opened the possibility for a new trial.
His defense alleged violations of the right to a defense and a lack of due process during the trial. His lawyers have said that documentation he provided shows the Q300,000 (about US $38,000) was for the sale of art work meant to pay for salaries at elPeriódico, as reported by Prensa Comunitaria.
Additionally, the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI, for its acronym in Spanish) accuses Zamora of obstruction of justice related to the money laundering case. In this second case, he is also accused of using falsified documents.
International observers and Guatemala’s own President Bernardo Arévalo have called out irregularities in Zamora’s cases and said it was retaliation for his reporting on government corruption.
“This is a spurious case against him and this demonstrates the criminalization strategies of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Arévalo said in March 2025 before Zamora was taken from house arrest for the first time and returned to prison.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously said his imprisonment was a violation of international law.
Upon his most recent release, CPJ called on authorities to drop all charges against Zamora.
“The repeated judicial maneuvers to keep Zamora behind bars sends a chilling message to every investigative reporter in Guatemala,” the organization said.
