We add our voice rejecting the sentence!

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June 15, 2023


** Guatemalan 'Covenant of the Corrupt’ regime sentences journalist-publisher Jose Ruben Zamora to 6 years in prison
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Rights Action adds our voice to those voices rejecting the 6-year prison sentence for Jose Ruben Zamora, journalist / founder of elPeriodico.
Photo: Prensa Comunitaria
This corrupted sentence is yet another blow to the rule of law and democracy. It is evidence once again that the ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’ economic, military and political elites control most State and government institutions in Guatemala, and systematically persecute and criminalize land, environmental and human rights defenders, justice operators, and the media.

Rights Action holds accountable the governments of the U.S., Canada and the European Community, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the IMF (and countless transnational companies and investors) that maintain full economic, political and military relations with the Guatemalan regime – referring to it as a "democratic allie" - simply because the Covenant of the Corrupt elites keep the country 'Open for Business' for transnational corporations and support the U.S., Canada and European Community in their international policies against and in opposition to China, Russia, etcetera.

Example: Most recently, the U.S. government brought sanctions against Swiss mining giant Solway Investment Group, that had Russian citizens in high management positions. Solway had operated the Fenix nickel mine corruptly and quite repressively since 2011 when it purchased it from the Canadian company Hudbay Minerals. Now, it has been revealed that the U.S. government was in secretive discussions with Montreal-based Central America Nickel (CAN), a subsidiary of Canadian company Auxico Resources Canada Inc., to take back control of the Fenix mine once Solway Investment Group was forced out by the U.S. sanctions.

* Geopolitics of nickel and rare earths in Guatemala: Unfettered mining expansion is Canadian and U.S. government policy ([link removed])
* U.S. Government & Canadian Mining Company Plot Nickel Mine Takeover in Guatemala ([link removed])

Led by the U.S., the misnamed "international community" directly empowers and enriches the Guatemalan regime that stays in power through fraudulent elections every 4 years, and through constant repression against and persecution of defenders of territories, environment and human rights, against justice operators, and against the media (as in this case).

Grahame Russell, Rights Action
[email protected]
Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora's Conviction Rejected
By Isela Espinoza, 14 June 2023
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After learning of the six-year sentence in prison against the founder of elPeriódico, Jose Rubén Zamora, human rights organizations rejected the conviction as a "clear testimony of the erosion of freedom of expression" in Guatemala.

During the hearing, the journalist denied having committed the crimes alleged by the Public Prosecutor's Office. The Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court, presided over by Judge Oly González, acquitted him of the other crimes of blackmail and influence peddling.

At the end of the trial, the director of elPeriódico said he will appeal the conviction and exhaust the legal processes in Guatemala, as well as in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in order to reverse the sentence.

The Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI), of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), requested a 40-year prison sentence with the aggravating circumstance of "contempt for authority".

The legal process is considered by Zamora as political persecution.

Jose Zamora, one of the journalist's sons, denounced that "the regime of Alejandro Giammattei has violated" the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the Guatemalan Constitution, all of which establish the fundamental rights of due process.

On May 15, elPeriódico newspaper was forced to close down – after 27 years of operation - due to political and economic pressures. Now, seven of its former journalists and two former columnists are also under criminal investigation for alleged obstruction of justice related to coverage of the Zamora case.

More than 20 journalists, former prosecutors and anti-corruption judges are in exile due to the persecution and criminalization initiated by the Giammattei government against those who denounce corruption cases.

The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca, responded "with concern about the conviction against journalist Jose Ruben Zamora. The media outlet he headed has closed. Several journalists who have covered his case are under criminal investigation. Reports of persecution and self-censorship of the press in Guatemala are daily," he wrote on Twitter.

The former Human Rights Ombudsperson, Jordán Rodas, commented that Jose Ruben Zamora "has been unjustly condemned, not by justice, but by ignominy and arbitrariness". He denounced that the powerful sectors and the Giammattei government are persecuting those who "have done nothing more than their job, unveiling corruption and exercising the right to freedom of the press and of expression".

The former head of FECI, Juan Francisco Sandoval, denounced, again, that during the criminal process against Zamora, an arrest warrant was issued against him, that the now head of FECI, Rafael Curruchiche, had issued an extradition order for Sandoval who was forced into exile.

"Ruben Zamora's defense should apply and point out all the violations to the due process of which he has been victim in the case," he said.

The Regional Human Rights Monitoring Team in Central America expressed concern about and rejection of the criminalization of journalists in the region. "This is a direct attack on freedom of expression and press freedom in the country".

The Americas Program of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), through its director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, called the conviction and imprisonment of José Rubén Zamora "shameful". "It is a clear testimony of the erosion of freedom of expression in the country and the desperate attempts of the government of President Alejandro Giammattei to criminalize journalism," reads a publication on Twitter.

Journalist and international expert on press freedom, Carlos Lauría, referred to the condemnation as an "affront against democracy in Guatemala". He disqualified the criminalization of journalism under the Giammattei government and expressed solidarity with Zamora and his family.

"Stay strong!" highlighted the Robert R. Kennedy Human Rights organization as it recalled that the work of journalists is vital to a democratic society. "Our thoughts and solidarity are with #ChepeZamora, his family and all journalists in #Guatemala who bravely investigate corruption, fight impunity and hold those in power accountable".

Other organizations and public figures joined in solidarity with the guild and the Founder of elPeriódico among them: the Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad (Apevex), Voces del Sur, […]. Reporters Without Borders pointed out that the money laundering conviction is "another unacceptable attack by the Guatemalan State on journalistic work."

In the same case, the Eighth Court also acquitted Samari Gómez of the crime of disclosure of confidential information, for which the prosecution was seeking eight years in prison.

The former prosecutor affirmed that she was innocent all along. "The future is uncertain, we do not know if they are going to present more accusations, but I will be ready to face justice if that happens", she added before the journalists.

At the end of the hearing, the now head of FECI Curruchiche reacted euphorically and said, in one of his first statements, that he would expect Jose Ruben Zamora to be included in the Engel List.

The Engel List was approved in 2020 by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and the United States with the objective of including individuals from the three Central American countries linked to acts of corruption or attacks on democracy. More than 60 people, mostly public officials, have been included in the list.

Former Attorney General, Thelma Aldana (now in exile herself), concludes that the trial "puts the MP and the country to shame".
Rights Action archives
* War Crimes Trials & Work to End Corruption and Impunity: [link removed]
* Elections and No Democracy in Guatemala: [link removed]


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TESTIMONIO
Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala
Edited by Catherine Nolin (UNBC) and Grahame Russell (Rights Action)
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