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Search resuls for: "elPeriodico"


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GUATEMALA CITY, June 14 (Reuters) - A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced Jose Zamora, a well-known journalist whose work has criticized successive governments, to six years in prison for money laundering in a case rights groups have branded an attack on free speech. Zamora was also issued a 300,000 quetzal ($38,339) fine, the court said. He was arrested in July last year during a crackdown on prosecutors, judges, human rights activists, journalists and opposition officials. According to the attorney general's office, Zamora allegedly received $38,461 to finance his media outlet, which was not regularly deposited into the banking system. The rights group is "very concerned" that Guatemala's prosecutors' office is investigating journalists and columnists from elPeriodico who covered Zamora's case, Goebertus added.
Persons: Jose Zamora, Zamora, Alejandro Giammattei, Juanita Goebertus, Goebertus, Sofia Menchu, Sarah Morland, Brendan O'Boyle, Bill Berkrot Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, elPeriodico, Rights, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Zamora's, Guatemala, Americas
One of Guatemala’s most high-profile journalists was convicted on Wednesday of money laundering and sentenced to up to six years in prison, in a trial denounced by human rights and free speech advocates as another sign of the deteriorating rule of law. The journalist, José Rubén Zamora, was tried on charges of financial wrongdoing that prosecutors say focused on his business dealing, not his journalism. He was acquitted of blackmail and influence peddling, and fined about $40,000. Mr. Zamora was the founder and publisher of elPeriódico, a leading newspaper in Guatemala that regularly investigated government corruption, including accusations involving the current president, Alejandro Giammattei, and the attorney general, María Consuelo Porras. For activists defending press freedom and civil rights in Guatemala, Wednesday’s verdict and sentencing, delivered by a panel of judges, was another blow to the country’s wobbly democratic health, as the government and its allies have taken repeated aim at key institutions and independent news outlets.
Persons: José Rubén Zamora, Zamora, Alejandro Giammattei, María Consuelo Porras Locations: Guatemala
“If you’re a journalist, do you have the right to commit criminal acts because you are a journalist?” Mr. Giammattei asked during an interview with a Colombian radio station in January. “Does journalism grant you immunity?”Nine other journalists at the newspaper are also under investigation by the government, some of them because they wrote about Mr. Zamora’s case, which prosecutors have said constitutes obstruction of justice. Some journalists at elPeriodico have fled Guatemala, fearing legal repercussions because of their work. “The feeling came that everything was falling, everything was leading us to disappear,” said Mr. Aceituno, in an interview on Sunday in his Guatemala City home, which was filled with books and movie posters. “What we are seeing in Guatemala is the latest example of how press freedom is eroding in the region.”
[1/6] Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, founder and president of El Periodico newspaper, talks with the media after attending his court hearing in Guatemala City, in Guatemala, December 8, 2022. REUTERS/Josue DecaveleGUATEMALA CITY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A Guatemalan court decided on Thursday to take to trial a case against a well-known Guatemalan journalist who was arrested four months ago on charges of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail. Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, an outspoken government critic, was detained in late July after a police raid on his home and will now remain in prison until the trial begins. Zamora, 65, is the founder of the elPeriodico newspaper, an outlet famous for investigations into government corruption. Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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