(BSS/AFP) - A Guatemalan judge on Friday granted the request for prominent journalist Jose Ruben Zamora to be placed under house arrest, months after the writer`s conditional release had been revoked.

Judge Erick Garcia concluded the near-eight-hour hearing in Guatemala City by ruling in favor of the request "for human rights reasons," adding "the extent of the prison sentence has exceeded the limits."

A stark critic of the government of former right-wing president Alejandro Giammattei, Zamora has been detained on money laundering charges since 2022.

The 68-year-old founder of the now-shuttered El Periodico was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2023.

In May, he was granted a requested transfer to house arrest from the military barracks where he`s been held, only for an appellate court to revoke the request a month later.

A panel of experts reported to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that Zamora`s imprisonment conditions were akin to "torture," with him remaining in solitary confinement in near constant darkness for months on end.

Giammattei has been accused by rights groups of overseeing a crackdown on anti-graft prosecutors and journalists during his term, which ended in January.

He was replaced by President Bernardo Arevalo, an underdog anti-corruption campaigner who overcame attempts by the political establishment to block his inauguration.

Press freedom and rights groups have denounced Zamora`s prosecution as a "witch hunt."