The bloc said that Article 35 of the constitution stipulates that “publications that contain denunciations, criticisms, or accusations against public officials or employees for acts committed while exercising their jobs do not constitute a crime or misdemeanor.”
He stressed that the investigative body, however, committed certain practices that violated the aforementioned principle of the Magna Carta and affirmed the illegal and systematic persecution and criminalization of the right to freedom of expression.
The group supported its arguments for the creation and formation of a file, responsible for the Office of the Special Prosecutor Against Impunity, related to investigative procedures for press publications.
He confirmed that the Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of the case requested certified copies from nine correspondents and columnists without judicial permission, which is in violation of Articles 245 and 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Legal professional and member of the Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG) Marco Trejo confirmed that as a union, they are very concerned about this incrimination and referred to the criminal case filed in the Amparo Chamber of the Constitutional Court.
On behalf of the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Udefegua), Claudia Samaya highlighted that on May 31 they filed a complaint for the violation of the persecuted journalists’ freedom of expression and opinion.
He added, about violations of the right of access to courts and the right of defense, indicating that they were surprised when the Public Prosecution Office asked Aldea Global for all the publications issued by the journalists.
He described the action as bad faith, because they did not allow the file to be copied so that the lawyers working for the journalists could find out about the case.
The complaint was signed by APG, Udefegua and La Red Rompe el Miedo Guatemala, among other people and groups added to the #NoNosCallarán movement.
All this coincided with the announcement of the criminal verdict issued by the Eighth Court on June 14 against the famous journalist Jose Rubén Zamora, founder and president of the newspaper El Periodico.
The caller confirmed in one of the hearings that it is a persecution sponsored by the three authorities of the state against elPeriódico, one of the media most critical of the government of Alejandro Giamatti and before that against Otto Perez Molina (2015-2021).
G/Zn
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