Guatemalan appeals court revokes order to grant house arrest to journalist José Rubén Zamora

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan appeals court on Tuesday revoked a judge's order to give house arrest to journalist José Rubén Zamora, known for railing against corruption in the Central American country.

The reporter has been in prison for two years, something that has sparked outrage by press freedom groups across the world.

Guatemala's prosecutors appealed a judge’s decision in May to grant him house arrest. However, the lower court order did not result in him being freed because there is a second detention order as the prosecutor’s office pursues two separate cases against him.

Zamora, 67, has been in prison since July 2022, when he was charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office with money laundering, amounting to some $38,000, and in June last year he was sentenced to six years in prison. The sentence was suspended by a court decision due to errors in the process.

The journalist has denied the accusations and has questioned why he was not allowed to provide evidence in his favor during the trial to clarify the origin of the money.

“I can defend myself, because I am innocent,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in May.

Zamora is the former president of the Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico, a daily specializing in anti-corruption reporting that disappeared after his arrest.