Gonzalo Lira, an American citizen living in Ukraine previously arrested by Ukrainian officials for alleged pro-Russian sympathies, has been re-apprehended following his rearrest and attempt to escape into neighboring Hungary.
Lira, who has both American and Chilean citizenship, has lived in the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for several years, according to The Grayzone. He achieved a following of thousands by dispensing life advice, especially for young men, that emphasizes traditional values.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Lira started commenting on the war and his take on the politics underlying the conflict. Lira was very critical of the Ukrainian government for, in his view, provoking the invasion and then insisting on fighting a hopeless war against a much stronger foe at great cost to the Ukrainian people.
It did not take long for Ukrainian authorities to notice his dissenting analysis and arrest him for it shortly after Russia invaded. Lira was released to house arrest.
In May, he was arrested again and charged with disseminating Russian wartime propaganda, according to the Daily Beast.
At the time of the arrest, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Security Service said, “The blogger [Lira] was one of the first to support the Russian invaders and glorify their war crimes … Additionally, in his comments he disputed the details of Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and mass murders of civilians,” per the Daily Beast.
After not being heard from for months, Lira reappeared last week, posting multiple videos and tweets documenting his experience in detention. According to Lira, he allegedly endured beatings that resulted in cracked ribs and had his left eye scratched with a toothpick.
Released on bail but with court orders to return for trial, Lira publicized his belief that it would be a show trial and that a guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion. Rather than endure what he predicted would be a five to eight-year sentence that he would not live to complete, Lira decided to try to cross the border into Hungary and seek asylum there.
It appears that Lira was not successful in his attempt to reach Hungary. He has not been heard from since his last post, which purportedly took place right before he had reached the border checkpoint.
On Wednesday, what appears to be an official English language statement from Ukraine’s military was released claiming that Lira had been re-apprehended before he was able to cross the border. The statement was delivered via video by Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, an American who has become a spokesperson for Ukraine Defense Forces.
“There’s a reason you haven’t heard from Gonzalo Lira yet, with his so-called attempts at asylum in Hungary. … [Ukraine State Security] knew where Gonzalo Lira was,” Ashton-Cirillo said in the post.
🇺🇦🇺🇸Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, transgender woman, from the United States has become one of the speakers for the Defense Forces.
Sarah serves as a junior sergeant and combat medic in the Ukrainian Ground Forces. pic.twitter.com/5Si6pN4U54
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) August 3, 2023
On Tuesday, a reporter from The Grayzone asked a U.S. State Department spokesperson what the U.S. government plans to do for the U.S. citizen who claimed he was tortured in the custody of an American ally.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller replied that he would have to reserve comment until he could look into the matter.
“Well, you lost me with the ‘perhaps’ and ‘if this is true,’ I think I’d want to verify those before I commented on them,” said Miller.
The Dallas Express reached out to the State Department on Thursday for comment, which responded, “We are monitoring the situation but have no further comment at this time.”
The Grayzone’s @cosgrove_iv asked @StateDeptSpox today about the status of Gonzalo Lira, the US citizen who was jailed by the Ukrainian govt for challenging its official narrative of the war and whose Twitter account now claims he’s making a break for the Hungarian border pic.twitter.com/kc7NY6hkdt
— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) August 1, 2023
The Grayzone spoke with Lira’s father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., who claimed, “For the U.S. government, it would only take a phone call to Zelensky to free Gonzalo. The world knows that Zelensky is a US puppet, but he does not respect the right of an American citizen to exercise his freedom of speech.”
The elder Lira ended the conversation by demanding, “Free my son from political imprisonment!”
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