Roman Gressier and Nelson Rauda, with Julie López, write in El Faro English on the continuing attacks on journalists and the freedom of expression in Guatemala. This is all part of the concerted attack on anti-corruption initiatives being championed by corrupt elites.
On February 28, reporter Alex Valdéz was covering a hearing for Guatemalan publisher José Rubén Zamora, in jail since July on charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice, when lead prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso accused him, five more journalists, and three columnists of trying to “coerce the court” with their writing on the Zamora story.
She asked the court to probe “the financing sources [of Zamora’s elPeriódico] because everything must be orchestrated by… [pause] more people.” She accused the journalists of “investigating, perhaps illegally, judges and prosecutors, following them to their houses” and recommended that the court uncover “who gave them the order and organizations who finance them.”
The judge then ordered the investigation. Valdéz was standing feet away from the bench.
[…]
The newly accused include op-ed writers Édgar Gutiérrez, a former foreign minister; Manfredo Marroquín, head of the local chapter of Transparency International; and Gonzalo Marroquín, an ex-president of the Inter-American Press Association.
You can read the full piece, with links, here, José Rubén Zamora’s Trial Judge Expands Probe to Reporters Covering the Case.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Legal, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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