Guatemalan journalist calls charges against him a ‘set-up’

By SONIA PÉREZ D.
Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A prominent Guatemalan journalist’s initial hearing before a judge has been suspended after the judge announced that the journalist’s lawyers were also targets of the government’s investigation. José Rubén Zamora is president of the newspapr El Periodico and was arrested Friday. Following Wednesday’s hearing, he said that “this is a set-up effectively designed and mounted by the president, attorney general and other people.” Attorney General Consuelo Porras’ office arrested Zamora on a charge of money laundering, but during Wednesday’s hearing Zamora and his lawyers were also accused of extortion.