GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's Supreme Court has lifted the immunity of office for a congressman suspected of ordering an attack in which two journalists were killed.

Court spokesman Angel Pineda says Tuesday's ruling was based on evidence presented by an investigative judge. The decision allows for a judicial investigation of the case.

Prosecutors and a U.N.-sponsored anti-corruption commission allege Congressman Julio Juarez Ramirez hired hit men to kill Prensa Libre correspondent Danilo Efrain Zapon Lopez, whose reporting had hurt Juarez's plans to run for office.

Zapon was shot dead in March 2015 while walking in a park just yards (meters) from a police station in the southwestern municipality of Mazatenango. Fellow journalist Federico Benjamin Salazar was also killed and another journalist was wounded.

Juarez has proclaimed his innocence.