- CIVICUS urges authorities to drop baseless charges against José Rubén Zamora
- There are concerns for Zamora’s health and safety in detention.
- Zamora is featured in the international campaign #StandAsMyWitness calling for the release of human rights defenders.
Guatemalan journalist and human rights defender José Rubén Zamora was brutally and illegitimately imprisoned on July 29, 2022. As he marks over two years behind bars, global civil society alliance CIVICUS calls on the Guatemalan government to immediately release Zamora and drop all charges against him. He is now listed in the international campaign #StandAsMyWitness calling for the release of human rights defenders.
José Rubén Zamora’s home was raided, and he was arrested on charges of money laundering, influence peddling, and blackmail. These charges stemmed from a single complaint filed by a former banker under investigation for financial crimes. Since then, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated two additional legal processes against him.
Zamora has endured almost two years of arbitrary detention, including solitary confinement under harsh conditions. The newspaper he founded, elPeriódico, was forced to shut down, and his ability to defend himself has been severely hampered. His lawyers faced harassment, prosecution, and imprisonment, necessitating multiple changes in legal counsel. The court consistently rejected crucial evidence and witnesses that could prove his innocence while accepting all prosecution evidence.
Despite being convicted of money laundering and sentenced to six years in prison, the Appeals Court annulled Zamora’s conviction in October 2023 and ordered a retrial. However, on June 25, 2024, the Second Chamber of Appeals for Criminal, Narco-activity, and Environmental Crimes revoked his conditional release, initially granted on May 15, 2024, concerning the alleged crime of money laundering. As a result, José Rubén Zamora remains in pre-trial detention, awaiting justice.
José Rubén Zamora’s plight has garnered international attention. He was awarded one of the most prestigious awards for journalism in Spanish, the Recognition for Excellence at the Gabo Festival on July 6, 2024.
“José Rubén Zamora is a courageous journalist who has dedicated his life to exposing corruption and defending human rights in Guatemala. His arbitrary detention is a stark reminder of the repressive measures used to silence dissenting voices,” said Isabel Rosales, Latin America Advocacy Officer at CIVICUS.
José Rubén Zamora is one of a group of leading human rights defenders featured in CIVICUS’ global campaign #StandAsMyWitness. The campaign urges people to call for an end to the imprisonment and harassment of human rights defenders worldwide. People are also encouraged to share the defenders’ individual stories on social media using the hashtag #StandAsMyWitness.
ABOUT CIVICUS
In July 2022, CIVICUS, Acción Ciudadana and Redlad submitted Guatemala’s UN Universal Periodic Review which outlined the extreme violence against HRDs and journalists, who continue to face attacks, harassment, stigmatisation and killings. State and non-state actors have escalated attacks with impunity. The submission further reports cases of judicial harassment against justice officials and journalists and the gradual reduction of the space for a free and independent press.
As a result of these developments, civic space in Guatemala is currently rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe.
CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. CIVICUS has 17,000 members worldwide.
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