GUATEMALA CITY (AP) 鈥� A Guatemalan appeals court on Tuesday revoked a judge's order to give house arrest to journalist Jos茅 Rub茅n 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 office pursues two separate cases against him.
Zamora, 67, has been in prison since July 2022, when he was charged by the Public Prosecutor鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 can defend myself, because I am innocent,鈥� he told The Associated Press in an interview in May.
Zamora is the former president of the Guatemalan newspaper El Peri贸dico, a daily specializing in anti-corruption reporting that disappeared after his arrest.
have labeled Zamora鈥檚 detention a political prosecution. Zamora concurs. He contends his legal problems were engineered by then President Alejandro Giammattei, who appeared many times in the pages of El Periodico accused of corruption.
Zamora believes his newspaper鈥檚 critical reporting on Giammattei鈥檚 administration led to the prosecutions by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who Giammattei put up for a second term before leaving office.
The journalist has said since left-of-center President Bernardo Ar茅valo took office in January, but added that he still is harassed sometimes by guards.
Ar茅valo, who had been considered a long-shot candidate of the Seed Movement party, was elected in August after voters angry at widespread corruption and leaders鈥� failure to tackle it gave him a decisive victory.
Some of his promises focused on cleaning up corruption in Guatemala, such as , although she remains in the post. Ar茅valo said he would not remove her by force.
Guatemalan prosecutors such as Porras have been sanctioned by the U.S. government and 40 other countries, accused of hindering the anti-corruption fight and .
The Associated Press
