Gonzalo Lira, an American citizen who was jailed in Ukraine for his political views, has died in a Ukrainian prison, the State Department confirmed on Saturday.
Lira died on January 11 after a battle with pneumonia that he said was initially ignored by Ukrainian authorities. Lira’s father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., first notified the media of his son’s death on Friday and said he had been pleading with the US embassy to intervene.
“I cannot accept the way my son has died. He was tortured, extorted, incommunicado for 8 months and 11 days, and the US Embassy did nothing to help my son,” Lira Sr. said in an email, according to The Grayzone.
The Grayzone obtained a note Lira Jr. recently wrote to his defense attorney that indicated he had pneumonia for months before being admitted into the hospital. “I have had double pneumonia (both lungs) as well as pneumothorax and a very severe case of edema (swelling of the body). All this started in mid-October, but was ignored by the prison,” the letter reads.
“They only admitted I had pneumonia at a Dec. 22 hearing. I am about to have a procedure to reduce the edema pressure in my lungs, which is causing me extreme shortness of breath, to the point of passing out after minimal activity, or even just talking for 2 minutes,” Lira Jr. added.
Lira Jr. was a popular YouTuber and political commentator based in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv who gained prominence in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was very critical of the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky and was arrested by the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) in May 2023 for allegedly justifying the Russian invasion.
“After the start of the full-scale invasion, the blogger was one of the first to support the Russian invaders and glorify their war crimes,” the SBU said in a press release on his arrest. The SBU also accused Lira Jr. of “discrediting the top military and political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.”
Lira was briefly released from prison on bail in July 2023 and said in a video he posted on social media that he was attempting to seek political asylum in Hungary, but he was again detained by Ukrainian authorities and sent back to prison. There was never any indication that the Biden administration was working to free Lira Jr. from Ukrainian prison.
“There was never any indication that the Biden administration was working to free Lira Jr. from Ukrainian prison.”
In fact, it has been quite clear that the Biden administration had no interest in freeing Lira. No work beyond a phone call would have been necessary.
They knew Zelensky knows what he has to do, he is a killer.
The Tokyo Rose of the modern world: Tucker Carlson’s War on Ukraine
The number one source in the world of disinformation, falsehood and lies about Ukraine is Putin. But with his audience of more than one hundred million viewers on Twitter, and his relentless use of mockery, sarcasm, falsehoods and Moscow-generated talking points, Tucker Carlson surely must be the second.
https://ukrainetoday.org/the-tokyo-rose-of-the-modern-world/
Don’t you have a Russian minefield to go run into?
Hmm a “New” guy in the block stepping in to defend Putin. Perhaps one of the same folks with multiple accounts.
Putin needs no one to defend him. We hope he an Xi Jing keep cool heads, we depend on their competence. We, USA/NATO, have real asylum inmates running the show, people who have their arms in blood up to their elbows.
I wouldn’t believe too much of what the Russian Government says; but they still have considerably more credibility than our government, our media, our state and defense departments, our intelligence agencies, or anything our paid lackies in Ukraine say. We lie, literally, about everything.
So complaining about “Putin” is the pot calling the kettle black.
Zelensky sold Ukraine down the river, it is now a failed state and it will take decades to recover.
The neo-Nazis did their job, they annihilated their country on orders of the USA while filling their pockets. The elite have tickets to their mansions while the little suckers are left behind to manage living in ruins.
You must really hate Ukraine, you want to go on to make sure there will be no stone left standing on another stone. My guess, you are Ukrainian and you hate the country and its people, another possibility you got paid and you have your ticket to fly out to settle in your mansion. Nationalism is narcissism.
Russia must be completely defeated, like the Germans in 1945: French expert warns EU against half measures
https://ukrainetoday.org/russia-must-be-completely-defeated-like-the-germans-in-1945-french-expert-warns-eu-against-half-measures/
Go back to jerking off to Bandera
Go back to jerking off Putin.
Man! Top comment of the year! LOLOL Spy, Wars, did you see that? wut
You believe yourself to be witty with that “burn”?
Putin invaded Ukraine and all of you d**kheads treat him like a savior. You’re not antiwar. You’re children who need a strong daddy to take care of you.
Pathetic.
Oh, yeah, and if you believe Putin has a chance to win this invasion, I’m sure you’ve all seen the video of the Bradley IFV kicking the s**t out of that T-90 (Russia’s best tank).
That’s US power being used for good!
Slava Ukraini!
Russia invaded Ukraine. And his comment didn’t even imply he backed Putin.
And concluding that Russia will be defeated because the US has a better tank is basically what got Ukraine in this mess in the first place. I guess the part about the US saying they wouldn’t back Ukraine if it meant a hot war with Russia eludes you still. And unless the US/NATO do exactly that, the Ukrainians will continue to die and more of their land will be destroyed whether or not they can win a tank battle.
His use of “Bandera” tells me who/what he is.
My point about the T-90 destruction from a Bradley is that the Putin-puffers have been touting Russian military prowess here all along. I was just saying that our JV “tanks” can destroy their Varsity tanks.
Also, their “best” planes have easily been shot down. Their missiles seem to be pretty good but they’re dropping them on their own people (hahaha). Anyone who can see reality would conclude the Russian buffoonery can’t win s**t.
Anyone saying the word “Bandera”, is saying Putin is their “savior”? Got it.
And I don’t know what the Putin-puffers are touting and it’s not really relevant to what I said. The fact that the US will not cross the line that will have them and Russia in a hot war makes any weapon comparisons pointless.
The US doesn’t need to involve themselves in a hot war. We can assist Ukraine in their hot war with Russia.
But we can’t assist them enough to defeat Russia. We could only possibly do that with direct involvement. A war of attrition cannot be won by Ukraine. So, more death, more infrastructure destroyed, and more land being contaminated. In other words, more of the same. But our stated goal all along has been to weaken Russia so mission accomplished. Too bad we had to waste a country in the process. But, oh well, it was a good investment.
Define “defeat Russia.”
Ukraine does not have to “win” for Russia to “lose.”
Drive them off Ukrainian land. Send them back to Russia with their tail between their legs.
And Russia doesn’t have to win for Ukraine to lose.
This isn’t WW2 and I am done wasting the finite time I have on earth responding to your, Don, and Rus’s crap. Have fun posting into the wind.
And yet you keep responding…Do I sense that I hit a nerve?
Good luck with that pipe dream ! Half-wit Nazi.
The Kyivan name and what is said, sounds like a Ukrainian neo-Nazi speaking.
Congratulations, Genocide Joe. Another notch in your gun.
Dumbass statement from the guy who supports genocide Putin.
Zelensky is a killer, he had opposition members killed, he got rid of opposition and sold his nation for cannon fodder to the USA. Another failed nation notch in mass-killer Biden’s belt.
“Speaking about Lira’s arrest, the Ukrainian government’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, also known as SPRAVDI, said the YouTube poster had been charged with “justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine,” in violation of Article 463-2 of the country’s criminal code.”
Whoops! Seems like this former “pick-up artist” f**ked around and found out! Another Putin a**kisser.
And you don’t have a problem with the US supporting a government that does this: had been charged with “justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine,” in violation of Article 463-2 of the country’s criminal code.” You’re ok with making free speech criminal?
Not my country. Not my rules.
I didn’t ask you what country you were from. You seemed to relish in the fact that this guy died because he “fucked around and found out”. And here I thought you were defending Ukraine because they are a democracy (your words).
They are a democracy; but they also have their own laws.
A democracy with laws that aren’t democratic. Ok.
It happens.
And it excludes those that partake in such practices from actually being a democracy.
That is in no way actually true.
How can’t it be?
It isn’t. You just can’t see it.
Then tell me. How can a country that has undemocratic laws, especially ones that don’t allow free speech, call themselves a democracy?
Sorry. Not gonna take time to teach you civics.
Sure. North Korea is also a democracy. They just have a few of those anti-democratic laws that would make one think they aren’t rally a democracy but apparently those laws aren’t an indicator of being an actual democracy. Who knew?
Yep, we not our country. Just a foreign country we sent $100 billion to. Apparently with no strings attached. Looks like they really are Big Israel.
Except the Ukes haven’t engaged in apartheid for the last 70+ years, you f**kwad! (Maybe leave the discussion to the adults, son.)
Looks like Blinken is doing about as well to safeguard the hostages in Gaza as he has done to help Gonzolo Lira
Lira was free on bail in 2023 do you have any evidence to suggest that he tried to get US help to be repatriated? Just asking because as the article points out all we know is that he wanted asylum in Hungary.
We know that US consular officials stationed in Kiev visited Lira in custody. Unless you have some evidence that he told them that he didn’t want assistance, I think we can assume that he, like virtually every American imprisoned overseas, did want it.
You cannot assume this, his dad would have mentioned this as would he himself while out on bail, that fact that they did not is a very strong indication that he did not want to be extradited by/to the US.
Instead all we have is that his dad asked the us to intervene, if Gonzales Lira himself did not want this the US could do nothing.
All we know is that G. Lira wanted asylum in Hungary.
His arrest in May 2023, under the charges of “production and dissemination of materials justifying Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine”
Wouldn’t it behoove the promoters of democracy over autocracy to at least speak out against those who depend on our assistance for their survival for arresting someone practicing free speech, one of democracy’s cornerstones?
It would – however the US has a very poor record of standing by its principles when fighting as they see it a bigger evil.
Which was basically my point.
That the US is right to support democracies with limits to freedom of speech aiming to curb propaganda for an invading enemy! Well in that case we agree on that issue, as the priorities of the US in this one case aligns with most lovers of democracy and even freedom of speech.
Hardly. I agree that they ignore their own principles when it suits them. The only other bigger evil they are “fighting” is of their own making and its main goal is keeping the MIC well fed.
You’re making the mistake of assuming that I know only what you know. It happens that I know much more than you know about Lira’s arrest and imprisonment. It would take you little effort and very little time to acquire a bit of background, which might at least begin to qualify your opinions on the matter. Google is your friend.
If you know so much more then surely you have no problem providing the links to substantiate that claim – asking me to google evidence which I would say was not there is merely wasting my time.
I.e. Google is your friend only if the evidence is there!
You don’t understand, Michael. I’m deliberately not providing guidance beyond telling you that you don’t know what you’re talking about because (a) that’s all you deserve when you arrogantly weigh in on a subject about which you fucking well know you are ignorant; (b) the participants here who have been following this matter can immediately recognize that I’m familiar with the facts, because they are too; and (c) I rather suspect that spoon feeding you the facts wouldn’t make much difference, because if you actually cared about the facts you wouldn’t need to be spoon-fed.
You claim that there is evidence but cannot provide it, I say there is none. Prove me wrong or stand corrected.
Gee, maybe I didn’t make my utter contempt for your nonsense sufficiently clear. Oh, well.
The absence of your evidence made clear!
Do you trust the government officials to tell you the truth and nothing but the truth with no omissions? Deliberate omissions are lies.
No I trust that G. Lira would have told us if he was denied efforts or thought they were not doing what he wanted them to do.
His family reached out to the US embassy for assistance, while he was in custody with no apparent avail http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/world-int/24744-the-tragic-end-of-gonzalo-lira-a-voice-silenced-in-ukraine.html
What’s even more concerning is that the charges he was held on basically consisted of “saying things the government doesn’t like.”
It led to the US authorities paying him a visit, seeing as he wanted asylum in Hungary, he may well have declined repatriation.
Given that he did not complain about the US lack of attempts at repatriation, when out on bail in 2023, it is not likely that he was denied this assistance.
You can get arrested for much less in Russia, and he was actually charged with spying not only propaganda for the Russians.
Many countries also democracies, have or have had, laws against ‘free speech’ when being invaded by others.
Democracies? Where are they? We do have AKA democracies, but no real democracies.
We have limited free speech and no one has invaded the USA.
You may say that the US or UK democracy is deeply flawed but there are several well functioning democracies in Europe.
In which way is your freedom of speech limited in the US??? We have limits on free speech in Europe, but AFAIK not in the US.
Except the US hasn’t sent Russia $100 billion over the last two years. I would normally expect this level of indifference reserved for Israel, but I guess times have changed.
Now if he did not request US assistance, then that is on him, though I don’t think we will be getting an answer on that from the US and Gonzolo isn’t exactly in a position to chime in.
The US has not sent Ukraine $100 billion either – they have sent old military equipment much of it about to be decommissioned but not cash.
The fact that he himself made no claim to having made any such request speaks volumes – and he was free to do so in 2023 when out on bail.
DUDE!!!! You are on FIRE!!!! Mic Drop! Looked for a free gif, couldn’t find one.
Too bad Hunter Biden is still around. FJB and POS obama!
MAGA POS yourself, huh?
Tell me, exactly what has Hunter Biden done (proof, not just your ”feelings”) that is dangerous to the good old USA?
You right-wing jaggoffs stormed the Capitol on Jan 6th, continue to talk about overthrowing the government and civil war, and you think Hunter Biden is the threat. Bless your hearts!
You are Deranged and Ignorant enough to make silly comments. As an Independent I support no party or group. As for drug addict and Ukrainian stooge Hunter Biden should be in Prison. Between tax evasion, gun charges, and criminal conduct his only hope is a pardon from senile Joey Biden.
You are an embarrassed (former) Republican. Admit it. You’re MAGA through-and-through.
It’s not a matter of Hunter Biden going to prison. (He probably won’t. He’ll just get some sort of probation.) What’s the national impact of his crimes? NONE. It’s just rotten MAGA cultists wishing more harm on someone who is a family member of a Democrat.
You people suck so much and you’re demaging to the country. The justice system will deal with your orange god and you’ll be left yelling at the TV with Fox News on.
There you go again. Deranged and damaged mentally hating anyone who does not bow down to the Kleptocracy in Washington. People like you have killed democracy by your support for the two tiered legal system which allows people like Hunter Biden to flaunt the law. If the average American citizen cheated on federal taxes and violated firearms laws they would be in prison. Hunter Biden and perhaps not even you will be subject to American law if you both are joined at the hip with the elite Democrats.
So, you agree that tax-cheat Trump should be in prison as well?
p.s. Only sheep watch Fox propaganda.
Keep praying to your orange Jesus.
If you haven’t given a sh!t about Navalny and other political prisoners in Russia, don’t pretend to speak out in defense of this Guy, it’ll make you a hypocrite.
So Navalny is a US citizen now?
He attended Yale for leadership training, that has been deleted in his current biography in the internet. He ran for office in Russia and received 2% of the votes.
He had a trial and was sentenced for fraud. He was to replace Putin. The Federalists supported him, based on his original bio in the internet.
You are Another idiot wiling to die for Putin.
Don, be a good kid, mind your manners, you know, what your mom taught you, like Ms. Manners used to do years ago in the NYT?
Thomas googled it and picked up the old listing, Microsoft Bing could not find it.
“I’m sorry to hear that. According to my sources, Alexei Navalny attended the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and graduated in 1998 with a law degree. He then studied securities and exchanges at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and graduated in 2001 1. I could not find any information about Navalny attending Yale or Harvard for future leadership training. ”
That is the Microsoft Bing response.
Microsoft Bing found it as the first result.
Well, they did not a day or two ago. I did copy their response and posted it. I did not make it up.
I didn’t think you made it up. I thought you fantasized it, in much the same way you fantasize virtually everything else.
Thank you, you are such a polite man.
I guess Assange is a US citizen. Right?
Dumbass, what part of this website makes you think everything discussed here is linked to US citizens.
Idiot.
Assange is being prosecuted by the US, Gonzalo Lira was a US citizen tortured by a regime the US sent $100 billion to.
As an American I have more concern over actions my country is directly involved in than a Russian being persecuted by Russia.
Navalny had a fair hearing in court, he was sentenced for fraud as was his brother. He was supported by federalists for leadership training in Yale or Harvard, that info has been deleted in the present listing in the internet. The federalists did even praise him, defending him. Claiming he was in prison for his opposition political activities. He run for office and got 2% of the votes.
Our media is controlled, we can’t believe the biographies internet provides. They omitted pertinent facts. In my book that is deliberate lying. The original real biography has been deleted.
Yeah, the Yale stuff has been so deleted that it’s featured in his Wikipedia entry and a Google search for “Navalny Yale” returns nearly 75,000 results, topped by the Yale Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program page on him.
Microsoft Bing could not find it.
“I’m sorry to hear that. According to my sources, Alexei Navalny attended the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and graduated in 1998 with a law degree. He then studied securities and exchanges at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and graduated in 2001 1. I could not find any information about Navalny attending Yale or Harvard for future leadership training. “
Microsoft Bing returns his page at Yale as the first result on the search “Navalny Yale.”
Please ask the experts what happened. In this time anything is possible, delete and then replace it? Others may have looked for it too.
Just a reminder, it confirms what I knew some time ago, he was being groomed to replace Putin.
Fair hearing?
First hypocrite in line.
You know what, Big F you to you.
You are either an unpaid troll because Russia cannot pay salaries anymore or just a stupid blogger with no idea of what’s going on in the world. .
This is why your f ed up invasion of Ukraine is a disaster. Supporters like you spreading lies no one believes.
Have you taken a hot shower yet?
Pretty cold there, hmm?
Karma is a b!tch, isn’t it?
Let me tell you, if I WOULD PO-ST WHAT YOU DID, most likely** it wo u-ld be- re-moved.
I don’t think you are a hypocrite, just st**u**pid.
“After the start of the full-scale invasion, the blogger was one of the first to support the Russian invaders and glorify their war crimes,” the SBU said in a press release on his arrest. The SBU also accused Lira Jr. of “discrediting the top military and political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.”
And this is why the US backs democracies over autocracies. /s
I did not know Ukraine is a democracy.
And that’s why I did this, /s.
For the ill informed, Ukraine has voted in a new administration in every election since 2014 – that is a sign of being a democracy.
No, rigged elections mean nothing. Free speech is a true sign of true democracy.
Do you have any evidence for rigged elections, usual signs is that the governing party wins again and again like in Belarus, I see few signs that this transpires in other places in the west than Hungary.
Then call the elections “influenced” if you want kinder words. I won’t even call it a coup.
For Ukraine they remained free and democratic, as evidenced each time by the incumbent loosing to one of the challengers.
For most other countries in the west it is much the same i.e. governments are losing each time they have faced hard times and sometimes even when not.
“For Ukraine they remained free and democratic, as evidenced each time by the incumbent loosing to one of the challengers.”
Except now there are no challengers because the elections have been canceled and the opposition parties outlawed.
The elections after 2014 have been free – elections are not being held in 2024 so they cannot be neither free nor democratic.
Factually incorrect, they have outlawed some opposition parties the ones on the payroll of the Russians.
And people here are up in arms failing to acknowledge that the UK did the same in WWII (putting pro German party leaders behind bars) and postponing elections.
So you are being less than honest with this reply – as what you say is not an argument for the idea that Ukraine was not or is not indeed still a democracy.
To be able to conclude this we would have to have Zelenskyy imprison all opposition leaders and failing to hold elections post war.
I know you know this – do better!
Did Zelenskyy Say There Would Be No Elections in Ukraine Until War Ends?
Yes, any parties deemed “pro-Russian” were outlawed. I’m absolutely, positively, beyond a shadow of a doubt sure that the same president who canceled elections and seized control of broadcast media would NEVER stoop to classifying parties he feared as “pro-Russian” to prevent them from frustrating his actions.
I do agree that Ukraine is about as much a democracy as Russia or Belarus. And that all of them are about as democratic as the US, UK, Israel, et al., but less inclined to make a convincing effort to cover up their non-democratic ways with pious pangeantry.
I would encourage you to try harder to put your BS over, but I don’t really care that much whether you do or not.
I clearly conceded the point that there would be no elections until the the war was over – what you link here just demonstrate even more clearly that you knew that this was not an antidemocratic coup by Zelenskyy , but simply down to keeping with the constitution of Ukraine – as I pointed out you knew better.
Only the parties he outlawed never got votes enough to win an election in Ukraine, however some of the opposition parties that he did not outlaw did – so you are just projecting your idea that ‘democracy’ is threatened on to this situation – that is not documenting that Zelenskyy is a threat to democracy – just your personal bias writ large.
We have yet to have an election in Ukraine where the sitting government wins – we have yet to have an election in either Belarus or Russia where the sitting government loses – so guess where there is actually better evidence for democracy! Or is it that you define democracy differently from most of us?
Try to argue your points classifying what other people write as BS is just trying to insult and thus only demonstrates that you are losing the debate based on the arguments.
“Try to argue your points classifying what other people write as BS is just trying to insult and thus only demonstrates that you are losing the debate based on the arguments.”
Not really — and you pulled the same shit first with the “do better” idiocy.
I’m not particularly interested in whether Ukraine is a “democracy,” because that term has little meaning. It’s a dictatorship at the moment. There may be arguments in favor of the dictatorship on the basis of an emergency (you’ve made some yourself), but it is what it is. I don’t pretend Russia is a “democracy” either.
So do you not care to distinguish between democratic states and non democratic ones? Or is it just in this case that you think this is a pertinent argument. Or to put it in a different way how is Ukraine any less democratic than UK during WWII?
Was Winston then a dictator too?
No I have made arguments for the suspension of some ‘rights’ temporary while at war when the survival of the state and the future of these rights otherwise may be threatened.
You seem to indicate that my wish to distinguish between what a democratic state often will do to guarantee its survival when war is imposed upon it and what happens in undemocratic states like Belarus – is just me peddling BS or shit – while admitting that we will first know whether the difference is substantial, we should treat it as being different until we have evidence that Zelenskyy actually will not end martial law in a post war scenario.
Simply put you seem to indicate that we should not treat Churchill any different from Mussolini.
“Simply put you seem to indicate that we should not treat Churchill any different from Mussolini.”
That’s a reasonable distillation of my position.
“Try to argue your points classifying what other people write as BS is just trying to insult and thus only demonstrates that you are losing the debate based on the arguments.”
This is why you are such a pain in the ass.
If asking for arguments in lieu of insults is a pain in the ass then sure.
I’m glad you agree that you’re a pain in the ass. See what I did there? I did a Micheal64.
No.
Hint: I gave you the answer.
So what you did was to demonstrate your inability to read and/or debate like a civilized person – wouldn’t have thought it was something you would want to advertise.
Debate? Is that what you think you actually do? You irritate people. Nothing more.
I know it can be irritating to be confronted with arguments you cannot cope with, so I can live with the idea that nincompoops like you find me irritating. Return when you have actual arguments – otherwise I advise staying clear of engaging with me as you are likely just to find it too irritating.
You’re right. Bye-Bye.
Free and democratic and completely free of influence from the west (/s). No $5 billion. No “Yats is our guy”. No “Fuck the EU”. All shit we just imagined.
Idiot.
Ukraine was a democracy until 2014.
I did know you were an idiot Putin lover.
I never liked this guy but this was a sad headline to see. But hey, at least Ukraine is a free democracy, unlike the evil authoritarian Russia, right?
I liked him
He could be a bit flaky, but his reporting was rational and made sense.
It’s called Negligent Homicide, at best.
The fact that Lira did not go behind Russian lines to safety when he could have done so being in Kharkov but instead went west through Ukrainian lines is more than enough evidence that Lira was simply a truth teller and not a Russian spy or operative as has been claimed by the deceitful puppet Zelensky and his Washington handlers.
RIP Gonzalo. You will not be forgotten.