Journalists' unions and international human rights NGOs have unsuccessfully demanded the dropping of charges against José Ruben Zamora, a journalist and founder and founder of the daily El Periodico. Washington has denounced attempts to "criminalize" the work of journalists in Guatemala.

Prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso delivered her closing arguments after 28 days of trial against Zamora who has been detained since July 2022. His newspaper, founded in 1996 and published only on the Internet since December, ceased all activity on 15 May, citing "criminal persecution and economic pressure" against him.

Ms. Monterroso asked for sentences of 20 years in prison for money laundering, eight years for blackmail and 12 years for influence peddling, the maximum penalties provided for in the penal code for each of these offences.

For the prosecution, Mr. Zamora, aged 66, tried to launder the equivalent of some $ 37,500 of "illicit provenance" and "from blackmail and extortion" to the detriment of businessmen to whom the press boss would have promised in exchange not to publish compromising information.

"I have studied the charges and they are all baseless," Zamora told reporters during a recess of the hearing.

The journalist assures that the sum of money he is accused of having extorted comes from the sale of a work of art in an attempt to bail out his newspaper which was in difficulty.

According to him, President Alejandro Giammattei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who is on a list of corrupt personalities by the United States, fabricated the prosecution in order to silence him like his newspaper after the publication of investigations into corruption cases involving the government.

Chief Justice Oly Gonzalez is expected to set a date for the verdict.

Eight journalists or editorialists from El Periodico are also targeted as part of another investigation against Mr. Zamora, this time accused of obstructing an investigation for money laundering.

Some of the journalists in the crosshairs of justice, including the director of the newspaper Julia Corado, have decided to find refuge abroad.

"The public prosecutor is demanding 40 years in prison against journalist José Ruben Zamora while the corrupt govern the country in peace," political analyst and anti-corruption activist Manfredo Marroquin said on his Twitter account.

Zamora's arrest came amid a wave of arrests of high-profile former anti-corruption prosecutors accused of alleged abuse of authority.

© 2023 AFP