Guatemalan judge grants investigative journalist Zamora house arrest and his family celebrates

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The family of a Guatemalan journalist on Saturday celebrated his transfer to house arrest following his jailing for more than two years amid his daily newspaper's anti-corruption investigations.

José Rubén Zamora founded El Periódico, which specialized in anti-corruption reporting and closed a year ago.

“At last, he can defend himself as he always should have, free from a baseless and abusive process,” his son José Carlos Zamora said in a statement. "We are delighted by this long-awaited moment and deeply grateful for the support and solidarity that sustained us.

There is still a long road ahead, but this marks a victory for my father, our family, and freedom of the press in Guatemala.”

Judge Erick García Alvarado ruled that Zamora should be released because his preventive arrest in one of the cases had already expired.

Zamora, 68, had been imprisoned since July 2022, when he was charged with money laundering, amounting to around $38,000, and in June 2023 he was sentenced to six years in prison. The sentence was overturned by an appeals court because of errors in the process, but he's waiting to see if he will be granted a retrial.

International organizations had been calling for Friday's hearing to take place so the journalist could be freed from imprisonment. Many of them said that Zamora had been jailed because of his investigations into those in power.

Zamora has said previously that he was exposed to psychological torture during his imprisonment, spending long hours without daylight, isolation and being awakened several times a night by guards.

The Guatemalan journalist told reporters after his release that he's both happy and calm after the decision, but that he would go to a hospital to regain his health.

“As for the prosecutor (Rafael Curruchiche, who heads the prosecutor’s office that accuses him), the attorney general would do well to open a scholarship fund to send them to study law again,” Zamora said.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, who took office earlier this year, celebrated the journalist's release from prison.

“Zamora returns home. Justice is beginning to arrive, the dark cycle is going to end,” Arévalo posted on X.

Eight journalists and columnists from El Periódico, which was founded in 1996, have left the country since Guatemala's prosecutor's office started investigating them.

Zamora was initially convicted and sentenced to six years in jail over the first charges against him and was imprisoned in July 2022. The decision was later overruled, but he didn't leave jail because of another case against him.

Curruchiche told reporters that he hopes Zamora will face justice now that he is free.