Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín was linked to a new criminal proceeding for an alleged falsification of documents, one day after being convicted in a money laundering case.
“I think that if they find dandruff or a sting on my elbow, they will persecute me for that,” Zamora Marroquín told reporters prior to a hearing against him for the new case raised.
Judge Jimmy Bremer, in charge of the Ninth Criminal Court of First Instance of the Guatemalan judicial body, linked Zamora Marroquín to the process for the alleged crime of using false documents on a continuous basis.
The Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) accuses the 66-year-old journalist of allegedly having used altered stationery to leave the country in 2015.
Zamora Marroquín has been in a Guatemalan prison for 10 months and this Wednesday he was sentenced to 6 years in prison for an alleged case of money laundering.
The communicator was arrested on July 29, just five days after launching strong criticism against President Alejandro Giammattei and his close circle.
In addition, the journalist denounced that during his detention two of his lawyers have been implicated in spurious cases.
After the 6-year prison sentence, Zamora Marroquín assured that he will seek an appeal in an international court of human rights, considering that the accusation against him lacks foundation.
Two years ago, the journalist publicly denounced that Giammattei and the attorney general and head of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras, would try to fabricate a case against him to silence the investigations by his outlet.
In 2021, Zamora Marroquín received from the King of Spain, Felipe VI, the prize for the outstanding medium in Ibero-America, for the investigative work that El Periódico carried out for almost 30 years, until its closure on May 15. EFE