Jailed Guatemalan journalist to AP: 'I can defend myself, because I am innocent'
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — José Rubén Zamora has spent nearly two years locked in a dark 16- by 13-foot cell in a Guatemalan prison, allowed only one hour a day in the sunlight.
The journalist’s money laundering conviction was tossed out, and last week a judge finally ordered his conditional release to await a new trial. But the 67-year-old founder of the newspaper El Periodico never made it out. Two more cases against him include detention orders.
In a jail house interview Tuesday, Zamora told The Associated Press that he had heard he would be arrested in July 2022 a week before agents came for him. But, he said, “it never crossed my mind to flee. I have to face justice because I can defend myself, because I am innocent.”
International press freedom organizations have labeled Zamora’s arrest and detention a political prosecution. Zamora concurs. He contends his legal problems were engineered by former President Alejandro Giammattei, who appeared many times in the pages of El Periodico accused of corruption.
Related articles
- TIANJIN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- A complete hairy rhinoceros skeleton has been on display for a century a2024-05-22
- (Xinhua) 10:30, October 27, 2023This image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Oct. 26,2024-05-22
Researchers enrich SW China regional climate history with tree ring data
(Xinhua) 14:36, August 16, 2023BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have provided new in2024-05-22Australian police probe why man who stabbed 6 people to death in a Sydney mall targeted women
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six peo2024-05-22Tom Hanks' son Chet Hanks declares it will be a 'white boy summer' again
Chet Hanks appeared on Instagram this week to once again declare that it will be a 'white boy summer2024-05-22Researchers enrich SW China regional climate history with tree ring data
(Xinhua) 14:36, August 16, 2023BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have provided new in2024-05-22
atest comment