Julie López and Roman Gressier write in El Faro about the ongoing attack against anti-corruption actors through the lens of the attack on the news outlet elPeriódico and its founder José Rubén Zamora. It is a cautionary tale but one which highlights the scale of the corruption at the heart of the Guatemalan state and within the state’s elites.
The trial in Guatemala of journalist José Rubén Zamora is a tale of a defense up against the ropes in a process plagued with irregularities. In the nine months since his capture in July 2022, the judicial file of the renowned journalist and businessman has passed through the hands of seven private defense attorneys and two public defenders. Four were detained for alleged crimes committed in Zamora’s defense; two of these accepted charges of obstruction of justice. A fifth attorney abandoned the country. The trial has broken elPeriódico, the daily newspaper that Zamora founded almost three decades ago.
When the public trial began on May 2, the two new attorneys who accompanied Zamora were the backup of the backup of the backup defense team. They had been hired by his family barely two weeks before and had only had access to a third of his 800-page judicial file. On May 11, after six days of testimony and cross-examination, both of the defenders had left the case. The next day, May 12, public defender Fidenza Orozco García was assigned as his ninth attorney.
Zamora, 66, is accused of laundering money, peddling influence, and blackmail with confidential judicial information. His historic prosecution has placed an international spotlight on growing attacks against the press in the Central American country. The founder of elPeriodico could face up to 20 years in prison on the count of money laundering alone. The trial, which has been widely scrutinized internationally for procedural irregularities, could last until the last week of May, estimates Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), who was sanctioned by the U.S. State Department in July 2022, accused of corruption, and is leading the case against Zamora.
You can read the full piece, including links and photos, here, elPeriódico Forced to Close as Ninth Defense Attorney Takes on Zamora Case.
There is also a link to the original Spanish version as well as an audio version.
Categories: Audio, Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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