- José Rubén Zamora is known for bringing corruption cases to light. Twenty-first century, founder of El Periodico and Our Journal. He was imprisoned in July last year, five days after Alejandro Giammattei filed a corruption case related to the president.
José Rubén Zamora, a Guatemalan investigative journalist, is charged with money laundering and punished with six years in prison and 300,000 ketzales ($38,300). The prosecution demanded a sentence of 40 years ' imprisonment, accusing not only of money laundering, but also of trafficking in influence. The Chief of the Special Prosecutor ' s Office for Impunity announces that he will appeal to re-claim the 40-year prison sentence. The journalist also appealed and announced that he would refer the matter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. On 14 May, barely ten days for the elections to the Guatemalan presidency.
The lawyers of the journalist report that the rights of the defence have not been respected, among other things because not all the witnesses on their behalf have been heard. "I have been violated by all my rights, but I hope he will regain freedom because the prosecution has been unable to prove anything," Zamora said in the incidents leading up to the sentence. In general, the right to defence is the same: he received nine lawyers, but four of them are imprisoned and two others have had to flee the people.
He founded the Newspaper in 1996. On May 15 of this year they had to close "destroyed by the state", as Zamora himself pointed out from prison
His closest relatives have also had to flee Guatemala because his life is threatened.
Leading investigative journalism
Zamora is a passionate advocate of freedom of the press and independent journalism, known both in Guatemala and internationally, for oriented investigative journalism. Many awards and awards have been received, among others, in 2000 by the International Press Institute among the Fifty Heroes of the World of Journalism of the twentieth century. In 2015 he received the Myrna Mack Award for the Defense of Human Rights.
The journalist has been imprisoned since last year for the launch of a corruption case related to President Alejandro Giammatt. He was arrested five days after the release of the report on 29 July 2022. According to the Association of Journalists of Guatemala, since the beginning of the Giammattei government there have been 350 attacks on press freedom in Guatemala.
Since Giammattei was president of Guatemala, El Periodico has reported 144 cases of corruption linked to the Government.
In 1990 he founded the Twenty-First Century media dedicated to cutting-edge research. Hidden realities, such as corruption or human rights violations, have emerged for many years, endangering their lives. He has received threats and attacks several times, including an attack in 1996 and kidnappings in 2008 and 2013.
It leaves twenty-first century and creates the Newspaper in 1996. On May 15 of this year they had to close, "destroyed by the state", as Zamora himself pointed out from prison. In the editorial written from prison, the journalist recalls "the struggle for freedom, tolerance, accountability, political pluralism, the quality of public spending, investment in strategic infrastructures, fiscal balance", denouncing "the context of division and political regression": the appearance in Guatemala of a "tyrannical and anachronistic fascism" that forced the Periodico "inevitably the intestine".
In 1998 he was among the founders of Our Journal.
144 corruption cases related to Giammattei
In Guatemala there is strong pressure against those who report cases of corruption. Like him, the anti-corruption prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval, had to flee the village in July of last year after being dismissed from office. Since its president, El Periodico has denounced 144 cases of corruption linked to the Government. In this regard, since July 2022, Zamora has been imprisoned, as it says, "the relentless interannual struggle against corruption, impunity, drug trafficking, abuses of power, state terrorism and misery."