IAPA denounces intimidation and "witch hunt" against Guatemalan journalism

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The government must put an end to legal and judicial harassment, used as an instrument against the media and journalists to intimidate and discourage journalistic investigations and generate self-censorship.
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Miami (June 9, 2023) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) described as an "act of intimidation" and a "witch hunt" a request by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) of Guatemala to elPeriódico to turn over publications and opinions of journalists and columnists who were critical of the judicial system during the trial against José Rubén Zamora.

The MP is investigating the journalists and columnists arguing their criticisms and denunciations of irregularities in Zamora's judicial process obstruct the Judiciary's work. Zamora has been imprisoned since July 2022. He faces a possible 40-year sentence for alleged money laundering, racketeering, and influence peddling. National and international media and organizations, such as the IAPA, denounced irregularities in the trial against Zamora, a critic of power and corruption, made up of the absence of transparency, due process, and lack of judiciary independence.

The document issued by the Attorney General's Office on May 31 requested that elPeriódico hand over all publications published, from July 22, 2022, until May of this year, by its president, José Rubén Zamora; its editor Julia Corado; its journalists, Gerson Ortiz, Julia Corado, Christian Velix, Alexander Valdez, Rony Ríos and Denis Aguilar, and by its columnists Edgar Gutiérrez and Gonzalo Marroquín, former president of the IAPA.

IAPA President Michael Greenspon reacted: "This is an act of intimidation against all Guatemalan journalism." Greenspon, Global Head of Licensing & Print Innovation for The New York Times, added: "This is a message or threat to journalism's function of overseeing and informing the powers that be through its investigations, denunciations, and opinions."

The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press, Carlos Jornet, added that the new criminal proceedings against the nine journalists are evidence of "the witch hunt in which the political powers in Guatemala are immersed to silence all independent and critical journalism in the country."

Jornet, the editor of the Argentine newspaper La Voz del Interior, reiterated the IAPA's position expressed during his visit to Guatemala in December and in its April resolution: "The government must put an end to legal and judicial harassment," used "as an instrument against the media and journalists to intimidate and discourage journalistic investigations and generate self-censorship."

IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.

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