Current:Home > reviewsJailed Guatemalan journalist to AP: ‘I can defend myself, because I am innocent’ -WealthSync Hub
Jailed Guatemalan journalist to AP: ‘I can defend myself, because I am innocent’
View
Date:2025-04-16 12:55:33
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — José Rubén Zamora has spent nearly two years locked in a dark 16- by 13-foot cell in a Guatemalan prison, allowed only one hour a day in the sunlight.
The journalist’s money laundering conviction was tossed out, and last week a judge finally ordered his conditional release to await a new trial. But the 67-year-old founder of the newspaper El Periodico never made it out. Two more cases against him include detention orders.
In a jail house interview Tuesday, Zamora told The Associated Press that he had heard he would be arrested in July 2022 a week before agents came for him. But, he said, “it never crossed my mind to flee. I have to face justice because I can defend myself, because I am innocent.”
International press freedom organizations have labeled Zamora’s arrest and detention a political prosecution. Zamora concurs. He contends his legal problems were engineered by former President Alejandro Giammattei, who appeared many times in the pages of El Periodico accused of corruption.
Zamora said his treatment has improved somewhat since President Bernardo Arévalo took office in January, but the bar was low.
His first day in prison in July 2022, he had only a towel his wife had given him, which he used to cover the bare mattress where he sleeps. He went two weeks without talking to another prisoner. His only outside contact was with his lawyers, a changing cast of more than 10, two of whom were eventually also charged with obstructing justice.
Things always got worse for him before a hearing.
“There was one day when the head of the prison came to take me out of the cell every time I bathed or went to the bathroom, he wanted to search me,” Zamora said.
One night before a hearing, workers began installing bars near his cell starting at 6 p.m. and going to 5 a.m., he said.
The long hours without daylight, the isolation and being awakened several times a night by guards amount to psychological torture, Zamora said.
“Listen to how it sounds when it closes,” Zamora said of his steel cell door. “Imagine that six times a night.”
Zamora constantly brings up details of his cases. The only one to earn him a sentence – later thrown out – was for money laundering. Zamora explained that a well-known painter friend of his had donated a painting, which he then sold to pay the newspaper’s debts.
He believes his newspaper’s critical reporting on Giammattei’s administration led to the prosecutions by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who Giammattei put up for a second term before leaving office.
The other cases revolve around alleged obstruction of justice and falsifying documents.
There are no trial dates for any of the cases.
“That case just like this one is staged,” Zamora said. “There’s nothing supporting it. It will collapse for them the same way.
veryGood! (57634)
Related
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Dan Campbell unaware of Jared Goff's perfect game, gives game ball to other Lions players
- Proof Hailey Bieber Is Keeping Her and Justin Bieber's Baby Close to Her Chest
- Travis Kelce Shows Off His Hosting Skills in Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? Trailer
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Georgia National Guard starts recovery efforts in Augusta: Video shows debris clearance
- Sean Diddy Combs Accused of 120 New Sexual Assault Cases
- The Latest: VP candidates Vance and Walz meet in last scheduled debate for 2024 tickets
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- All-season vs. winter tires: What’s the difference?
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Haunted by migrant deaths, Border Patrol agents face mental health toll
- California sues Catholic hospital for denying emergency abortion
- Who are the highest-paid NHL players? A ranking of how much hockey stars make
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- US job openings rise to 8 million as labor market remains sturdy
- Erin Foster Shares Where She Stands With Step-Siblings Gigi Hadid and Brody Jenner
- Chinese and Russian coast guard ships sail through the Bering Sea together, US says
Recommendation
Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
Mountain terrain, monstrous rain: What caused North Carolina's catastrophic flooding
Montana rancher gets 6 months in prison for creating hybrid sheep for captive hunting
Dan Campbell unaware of Jared Goff's perfect game, gives game ball to other Lions players
California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
Facing more clergy abuse lawsuits, Vermont’s Catholic Church files for bankruptcy
Kentucky lawman steps down as sheriff of the county where he’s accused of killing a judge
Pete Rose, MLB's all-time hits leader who earned lifetime ban, dead at 83