Amnesty International is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Jose Rubén Zamora. Following a court ruling, the journalist and prisoner of conscience is due to return to Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala City on March 10, 2025.
Jose Rubén Zamora, 68 years old, had been under house arrest for four months. However, on March 4, an appeals court partially annulled the process and overturned the house arrest decision. His lawyers filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice, which has not yet been resolved.
“We condemn the new arrest, which is clearly arbitrary, of the journalist Jose Rubén Zamora, who is being imprisoned again today solely for his journalistic work investigating and denouncing corruption,” said Ana Piquer, Americas director of Amnesty International.
“His arrest is yet another outrage in the long list of violations of his human rights. We demand his immediate release and the dropping of all charges against him. There is an urgent need to put an end to judicial harassment to silence dissident voices,”
Ana Piquer, Americas director of Amnesty International
Jose Rubén Zamora is a prominent journalist and founder of several media outlets in his country. Between July 2022 and October 2024, he was unjustly detained for more than 800 days as a result of two unfounded criminal proceedings brought against him.
In May 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention classified the journalist’s detention as arbitrary and recommended his immediate release. On August 1, based on rigorous documentation of the case, Amnesty International determined that the journalist was being persecuted solely for his journalistic work investigating and denouncing corruption and named him a prisoner of conscience.
The unfounded criminal proceedings against him are part of the politically motivated persecution of people working in the justice system and human rights defenders who have fought against corruption and impunity in Guatemala.
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