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Journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín left the military barracks in the north of Guatemala City on Saturday after spending 813 days in detention amid a judicial process riddled with irregularities and after a judge granted him house arrest on Friday .
“I feel a mixture of things: joy and tranquility,” Zamora Marroquín told dozens of journalists after crossing the gate of the Mariscal Zavala prison barracks at 5:36 p.m. local time (23:36 GMT).
Zamora Marroquín has been in prison since July 29, 2022, when he was accused of alleged money laundering in a case that was filed by the Prosecutor’s Office just five days after the journalist accused the then Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024) of acts of corruption.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office will go after me again and I will wait for them at home, and if I have to go back to prison I will come with peace of mind because the cases lack support,” added the founder of the defunct newspaper El Periódico on Saturday outside the prison.
Relatives of the journalist went to the prison to greet Zamora Marroquín, 67, upon his release. A judge granted him house arrest on Friday, considering that the time of preventive detention against him had been exceeded and out of respect for his human rights.
Zamora Marroquín’s defense was able to prove that there is no risk of flight or obstruction of justice, so Judge Erik García agreed to send the journalist home under house arrest.
In 2024, the journalist was recognized with the Gabo Award for Excellence and during his imprisonment he was openly supported by the governments of countries such as the United States and Spain.
After his release, Zamora Marroquín must continue to face criminal proceedings, a trial for money laundering and an intermediate stage for the crimes of altering immigration documents and obstruction of justice.
Between 2018 and 2024, more than 50 people, including journalists, judges, prosecutors and activists, have claimed to be criminalized and persecuted by the judicial system of the Central American country. EFE
