World News | Guatemala Pursues Journalist's Lawyers

Guatemala City, Jan 20 (AP) Guatemalan authorities arrested a lawyer representing the jailed director of an investigative newspaper and pursued a second lawyer for alleged obstruction of justice.

José Rubén Zamora of El Periodico was ordered to stand trial on money laundering charges in December related to a 2013 donation to his newspaper that he asked a friend to deposit to hide the donor's identity.

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Zamora and his paper had aggressively pursued stories of wrongdoing and corruption in the current administration of President Alejandro Giammattei. El Periodico stopped publishing a print edition November 30 due to its financial difficulties.

Anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche said in a video statement that Zamora's lawyers had conspired to obstruct the investigation. Mario Castañeda was arrested on Thursday and authorities were seeking the arrest of Romeo Montoya.

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Free press organisations have decried the pursuit of Zamora as an attempt to silence a critical voice in the media. Currucchiche was sanctioned by the US government last year for allegedly obstructing corruption investigations.

The United States and international human rights groups have been critical of the deterioration of judicial independence in Guatemala. More than 30 judges, prosecutors and other members of the legal system have fled into exile to avoid prosecutions. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)