Press associations demonstrated against the resolution of the Constitutional Court (CC), which last December rejected the appeal presented to stop the persecution against communicators.
The constitutional action of amparo of a preventive nature against prosecutors of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (FECI) was presented on May 30, 2023. The speakers were the Chamber of Professional Lockers, the Association of Sports Chroniclers, the Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG), Guatemaltec sports chroniclers, the Guatemalan Federation of Radio Schools, the Red Red Guatemalan Chamber of Journalism and the Central American Institute for Studies for Social Democracy.
According to organizations, the amparo was filled because the MP requested the publications made in the Periódico from July 22, 2022 until July 31, 2023, which, according to the statement, made evident “the risk of being used by criminal law as a way to criminalize freedom of expression.”
The organizations indicated that it seeks to “avoid the full violation of the rights of freedom of expression and thought, as well as the freedom of the press, for whose shelter there are constitutional preliments, such as the printing courts.”
They also pointed out that on January 10, 2024, the Fifth Criminal Court resolved that the aforementioned cases were not judged by criminal proceedings, but that an printing court should know the file. However, FECI appealed this resolution.
On March 10, 2024, the Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals declared the appeal raised by the MP. However, the FECI continues to know the case, as the printing court was never shaped.
“It should also be noted that as a consequence of criminal prosecution, violations and lack of guarantees that have already occurred, the newspaper El Periódico decided its closure after 30 years of activity,” they say.
Resolution
Before the denial of the Second Chamber, the press and social organizations appealed before the CC.
Nineteen months later, this Court declared the action without place, since the amparo “does not constitute the appropriate way to claim it, because, as already indicated, it corresponds both to the competent judge or court to know and decide on them, in addition to the fact that the petitioner organizations are not part of the process.”
“We emphasize that the amparo is preventive, not reactive; that is, it does not seek the correction of the proceedings once a sentence was issued, but that it was intended to avoid violations that have occurred since our first action was filed, since judges and courts have been responsible for said actions, showing their refusal to abide document.
In addition, they argue that the CC “seems not to take into account that, precisely, the Law of the Issue of Thought establishes in its article 35 that it does not constitute the crime of slander or insults attacks on public officials or employees for purely official acts in the exercise of their positions, even if they have ceased in said positions at the time of making any imputation.”
They added: “Printing courts must be formed when an official feels that their rights have been violated and that, in no way, freedom of expression must be penalized, according to national and international legislation.”
Press organizations stated that it is resolved violates a right and a law with constitutional rank that cannot be restricted, as defined by article 35 of the Constitution.
They also indicate that, given this resolution, the work of journalists, the media and freedom of expression of opinion leaders, social sectors, political parties, churches, communities and every person is put at risk.
“The press organizations of the country urged the highest court to comply with their main missions: defend the constitutional order and protect the rights and freedoms of the Guatemalans, which will only be evident when the cases in question are tried by printing courts and the judicial guarantees of the now criminalized persons are respected,” they said.
The case
In February 2023, the tenth criminal judge, Jimi Bremer, at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), Cinthya Monterroso, ordered to investigate journalists and columnists of El Periódico, as well as other media, as part of the process that follows against José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, who has been detained since July 29, 2022 for an alleged case of money laundering.
According to the MP, the communicators would have incurred the crime of obstruction to justice. The Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), Cinthya Monterroso, asked the judge to investigate other journalists who, according to their criteria, collaborate with Zamora.