The US confirmed the death of Chilean-American blogger Gonzalo Lira in a Kharkiv detention centre, according to the US State Department.
Gonzalo Lira was detained in May 2023 in Kharkiv region, where he had lived for several years. According to the European Conservative, Ukrainian authorities accused the blogger of attempting to discredit the country’s political and military leadership and of supporting the Russian military operation.
The US State Department confirmed that blogger Gonzalo Lira, who had Chilean and American citizenship, died in the Kharkiv pre-trial detention centre, but did not provide additional information about the blogger’s death, explaining that it was necessary to respect the interests of the family of the deceased.
According to the blogger, he was given documents after his arrest so that he could contact his lawyer, family and post bail. Despite this, the staff of the pre-trial detention centre prohibited Lira from calling anyone and posting bail, although he had money.
The blogger claims that he was severely abused by other prisoners: he had a broken rib, was not allowed to sleep for 30 hours, had his arms twisted and was beaten. In addition, he was tortured in the pre-trial detention centre by assigning torture to other prisoners. Why torture him? He was tortured to extort money – $70,000. Right after his arrest, $9,000 was taken from him, then he paid $11,000 as bail. When the money was deposited, the blogger was placed under house arrest, according to the blogger.
He was further given his papers back and was supposed to wear an electronic bracelet, but was not. This was a hint of permission to flee abroad, he decided. He planned to settle in Hungary for some time, believing that this country would not extradite him to Ukraine, but later Ukrainian law enforcers prevented the escape and sent the blogger to a pre-trial detention centre.
In early December 2023, billionaire Elon Musk demanded in social network X that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explain Lira’s arrest:
An American citizen is in prison in Ukraine after we sent over a $100 billion? Is there more to this story than simply criticising Zelensky? If that’s all it is, then we have serious problem here, he wrote, tagging the Ukrainian president in the comment and asking for an explanation.
And already on 13 January he reacted to the blogger’s death in the detention centre: “This is a complete mess.”
News of the death of the 55-year-old blogger and journalist with dual Chilean-American citizenship shocked Tucker Carlson, who was also one of the first to take up the case and accused the White House of complicity, which he said led to Lira’s imprisonment and torture. Gonzalo Lira’s father also spoke to a prominent American television journalist who was shocked by what happened.
“I cannot accept the way my son died. He was tortured, blackmailed, kept locked up for months, and the American embassy did nothing for him. The dictator Zelensky is responsible for the tragedy, with the agreement of a senile American president, Joe Biden,” commented senior Gonzalo Lira to The Grayzone.
