. bank accounts Newspapercritic of the government Alexander Giamatti in GuatemalaTheir movement was frozen after the arrest of its president and founder Jose Ruben ZamoraAccused of money laundering, the newspaper reported on Monday.
Zamora was arrested Friday at his residence, and raided the newspaper’s headquarters, denouncing the allegations of corruption by Giamatti and the Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who is accused by the media of being behind the arrest.
“Over the weekend they froze the newspaper’s accounts. So they suspend us financiallyRamon Zamora, the journalist’s son, told AFP during a demonstration organized by dozens of people against his father’s arrest, in front of the capital’s center courts. Guatemala City.
look here: Journalists protest the arrest of the head of the newspaper El Periódico in Guatemala
El Periódico said in a statement:Bank accounts (…) have been reserved upon request“The Special Prosecutor Against Impunity (FECI), the entity directing investigations against Zamora, with”The only intention is to paralyze finances” Average.
FECI President Rafael Korosiche stated that Zamora is suspected of money laundering and that the operation, under reservation, is “in the capacity of a businessman” and not as a journalist, an assertion rejected by the Syndicate of Journalists and El Periodico.
The reason for rejecting these statements was the freezing of bank accounts.
Koroshich, appointed by Poras a year ago, was recently included by the United States in the list of “corrupt and undemocratic” people, or Engel’s list, in which the attorney general has already appeared. The official is accused of conducting investigations into trumped-up charges against former anti-Mafia prosecutors.
Zamora, who is in provisional detention, was scheduled to be heard on Monday for the first hearing, but the date was put on hold due to delays in sending the file to the court hearing the accusation.
more information: Who is journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquín and what are the charges against him in Guatemala?
Samari Gomez, FECI’s assistant attorney general, has also been arrested in connection with the operation against Zamora, who is accused of disclosing classified or confidential information.
The American Press Association (IAPA), which called for “Guarantees of freedom of the pressHe noted that Zamora warned last October that President Giamatti and Attorney General Borras “manufacturing“A case against him to put him in prison.
“Protecting press freedom is fundamental to democracy. The United States urges full respect for due process under Guatemalan law and the protection of personal securityZamora and Gomez, the head of US diplomacy for the Americas, Brian Nichols, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
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