Guatemala Judge Orders Journalist Jose Zamora Back to Prison
A criminal judge has decided to follow the order of an Appeals Court and revoke the house arrest that Zamora had been under since October 2024.
HAVANA TIMES – Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin must return to a prison in northern Guatemala after a criminal judge decided to comply with the order from an Appeals Court and revoke the house arrest he had been under since October 2024.
Judge Erick García ordered on Monday, March 10, 2025, that Zamora return to preventive detention, where he had spent more than 800 days between July 2022 and October 2024, after an Appeals Court revoked the alternative measures granted to him in a case involving alleged money laundering.
The 67-year-old journalist, who has spent three decades exposing cases of corruption, called the Appeals Court’s decision “arbitrary,” in ordering his return to prison.
Zamora was first arrested on July 29, 2022, at his home, five days after making strong criticisms against then-President Alejandro Giammattei (2020–2024) and was charged in three separate criminal cases.
“I will not accept charges for crimes I did not commit, and I will continue fighting from prison,” Zamora told the media after learning of the ruling returning him to prison.
Judge García reported that in recent weeks, he and his court staff had been victims of threats from unknown individuals.
The Prosecution Against Jose Ruben Zamora
Jose Ruben Zamora’s defense had requested the suspension of the hearing because there are legal protections and other legal resources pending resolution by the Constitutional Court. However, these requests were rejected by the court.
Prosecutor Leonor Morales, who has been sanctioned by the US Department of State, requested that the journalist be returned to prison to comply with the order issued by the court two weeks ago.
In the coming hours, the journalist and founder of the investigative outlet, elPeriódico, will have to return to the prison located within the Mariscal Zavala military barracks in the far northern part of Guatemala City.
Zamora, who has been awarded by the King of Spain and the Gabo Foundation for his career, emphasized that the case against him was “deliberately delayed” by the Public Ministry to keep him in prison.
Initially, the journalist was accused of alleged money laundering, and later two more cases were opened against him for alleged obstruction of justice and another for the alteration of immigration documents.
This same Monday, the President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo de Leon, condemned the prosecution’s efforts to send the journalist back to prison.
During his 819 days in prison, Zamora was subjected to restrictions on his rights and suffered health deterioration, as reported by the journalist and international organizations such as the Inter-American Press Association (SIP).
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.