After on March 10 a judge ordered that the journalist Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín return to prison when he abide by the ruling of a room that declared with place the efforts of the Public Ministry (MP) to reverse the house arrest with which the founder of THE PERIÓTICO He had benefited from ten international organizations, they opened in search of recovering their freedom.
It was reported that a group of ten international organizations presented a Amicus Curiae before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), arguing that Zamora’s return to preventive detention constitutes a violation of his fundamental rights under Guatemalan and international law.
Therefore, the entities urge through said legal figure to the CSJ to grant an appeal for pending amparo and allow Zamora to carry their process under substitute measures.
A joint statement, published by the Vance Center – which provides legal representation to civil society organizations worldwide – notes that the amicus presented under the amparo urges the CSJ to maintain the criteria of the Ninth Criminal Court, which determined that Zamora’s trial could advance under substitute measures, without the need to remain in preventive detention.
Add that:
“Not granting the amparo in favor of José Rubén Zamora Marroquín would constitute a serious violation of their rights according to international standards.”
“The deprivation of extended liberty of Mr. Zamora is unnecessary and unjustified, since it is not convicted with a final sentence. This situation violates international human rights standards, such as the right to freedom, the exceptionality of preventive detention and the presumption of innocence,” adds the document.
In it amicus Presented to the CSJ, the signatory organizations cite the opinion of the working group on the arbitrary detention of the United Nations Organization on the case of Zamora, issued in May 2024.
“The circumstances of the detention of Mr. Zamora indicate that it is used as a punishment and not to prevent the escape or hindering of the cause. Preventive detention is a means to silence its journalistic activities, instead of responding to legitimate concerns of a criminal procedural nature,” says the amicus.
Details
The CSJ last Thursday rejected an appeal of Zamora to reverse the order that sent him again to jail two weeks ago, when he revoke the house arrest he maintained since October.
The 68 -year -old journalist has been imprisoned for more than 800 days. Face two parallel causes initiated in 2022 by the Prosecutor’s Office, which international organizations consider an attack on press freedom.
The Court Amparo Chamber unanimously resolved to definitively suspend the resources of Zamora’s defense, after an appeal room annulled the house arrest, the Judiciary said in a statement.
The magistrates argued that the journalist’s lawyers had to ask the same Chamber to review their order, as a previous step before going to the Supreme Court, adds the text.