The Judicial Agency (OJ) set for Friday, March 7, the hearing in the Second Criminal Court to comply with the resolution of the Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals, which annulled the house arrest granted last October to the journalist José Rubén Zamora.
“Defective procedural activity is declared and any legal effect is left without any legal effect or effect of everything on October 17 of last year in other instances,” says the resolution of the Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals with respect to the case in which the Founder of El Periódico is processed.
This Thursday, March 6, the children of Zamora alerted on their social networks about the hearing scheduled for Friday in the Second Criminal Court at 10 in the morning, in which the probation would be revoked last October granted to him Judge Érick García.
Garcia had been challenged by the Prosecutor’s Office and the complainant in the process, the Foundation against Terrorism, to avoid knowing the case. However, the judge held the hearing by arguing that his separation did not proceed.
The Appeals Chamber set a 24 -hour period to execute the decision. If the challenge had not been resolved, the journalist could return to preventive detention.
“The Third Chamber, illegally, decided to cancel everything acted until October 17 with the sole objective of revoking substitute measures,” he wrote in X Ramón Zamora, son of the journalist, who stressed that his father has been a crime and spurious processes for 950 days of criminalization and processes.
José Rubén Zamora went to the amparo chamber of the Supreme Court to present a legal appeal with the aim of reversing the decision of the Appeals Chamber.
Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the Foundation against Terrorism have filed a series of judicial resources so that the journalist returns to prison, but without success so far.
Zamora, 68, was imprisoned in the Prison of the Mariscal Zavala Barracks, in Guatemala City, from July 29, 2022 until last October, in a process that international organizations and several governments consider an attack against the press by the previous Guatemalan government.
The journalist was arrested in 2022 after publishing in the periodic corruption cases that involved the then president Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024). The newspaper closed in 2023, while its founder remained in prison.
A court sentenced him on June 14, 2023 to six years in prison for money laundering, but the sentence was annulled and the trial must be repeated. While waiting for that process, Zamora remains on house arrest.
Rejection
For its part, the Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG) rejects the resolution that revokes the substitute measures to Zamora, considering that it is contrary to the principles of due process and the rule of law.
He adds that these actions represent “a serious setback in the struggle for justice and freedom of expression in Guatemala.”
“The APG considers that this judicial action not only affects José Rubén Zamora, but also sends a message of intimidation to all journalists and media that seek to inform truthfully and transparency.”
He adds: “This case transcends the individual and becomes a direct attack on freedom of expression, a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic and in international human rights treaties.”