Vance Center Joins International Organizations Calling on Guatemala’s Supreme Court to Protect the Rights of José Ruben Zamora

February 2, 2026 – The undersigned organizations express their rejection of the arbitrary detention of journalist José Rubén Zamora and call on the Amparo and Antejuicio Chamber of Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice, at the public hearing set for February 3, 2026, to uphold the provisional amparo that granted him alternative measures and to fully guarantee his right to defense

This hearing is a crucial opportunity to ensure that Mr. Zamora’s appeals are examined fully and impartially and that he is given a real and effective opportunity to present his defense, consistent with Guatemala’s international obligations on human rights and due process. In this regard, we urge the Chamber to rule consistently with its previous decisions in this same proceeding, in which it refused to revoke the provisional amparo, and to confirm the amparo on this occasion.

Mr. Zamora, a well-known journalist, has been arbitrarily detained for three years. His detention has been declared arbitrary by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which called for his immediate release and recognized the serious due-process violations in his case.

These violations include the systematic exclusion of exculpatory evidence, the denial of legal remedies, the criminalization of his defense lawyers, and the use of judicial mechanisms as tools of political persecution.

We underscore that respect for procedural guarantees, including access to an effective appeal and the right to be heard by a competent and independent tribunal, is fundamental to the right to a fair trial and essential to restoring public confidence in the rule of law.

We urge the Amparo and Antejuicio Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to act independently and with strict adherence to the applicable constitutional and international norms, and to ensure that this hearing represents a decisive step toward justice and full respect for Mr. Zamora’s rights.

We urge the international community to continue monitoring the situation of human rights, justice, and the rule of law in Guatemala.

Signatories:
CEJIL
CIVICUS
Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice
Impunity Watch
Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences
Jotay
Latin America Working Group
Lawyers without Borders Canada
Plataforma Internacional contra la Impunidad
Protection International Mesoamérica
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

See the press release here.