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Gonzalo Lira, a popular YouTuber and writer, was arrested by the SBU for his political views on the war
Originally published by AntiWar
The State Department has refused to say if it’s engaging with the Ukrainian government over American citizen Gonzalo Lira, who was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) due to his political views on the conflict with Russia.
Lira has a popular YouTube channel and a large following on Twitter and Telegram. He is also a writer who has contributed to several media outlets, including Business Insider. Lira was born in California and is a dual citizen of the US and Chile and had been living in Kharkiv, Ukraine, throughout the war.
Lira is a critic of the Ukrainian government and was arrested by the SBU on charges of 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 referring to Lira.
The SBU also accused Lira of “discrediting the top military and political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.” He was charged under sections 2 and 3 of Article 436-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code, which outlaws the “distribution of materials” that justify Russia’s actions going back to 2014.
Epoch Times reporter Liam Cosgrove asked State Department spokesman Matthew Miller if the administration was aware of Lira’s detainment and how the US feels about Ukraine arresting an American for speech.
“So I will say in general that we’re aware of the report. We obviously support the exercise of freedom of speech anywhere in the world, and I’ll leave it at that,” Miller said.
When asked if the administration was working to secure Lira’s release, Miller said, “I’m going to leave my comments where I just left them.”
Cosgrove also asked Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) about Lira’s detainment. Lieu said that he wasn’t aware of the case but said US citizens should “have the ability to express their thoughts and views” and that he would look into the arrest.
Responding to the news, Greene told Cosgrove: “America is providing weapons, equipment for the defense of their country, but the Ukrainian government is not going to defend any American’s freedom of speech, and that’s a real problem.”
Lira’s arrest received virtually no attention in Western media. One of the few outlets to cover it was the Daily Beast, which smeared the American instead of questioning the charges. According to the Beast, Lira is facing five to eight years in prison.
better free those detained in the ruzzian shithole…
the biggest shit holes are here in the land of freedom, usa.
maybe the us state department thinks democracy can exist without free speech.
democracy is the absence of contradiction of jews’ collective will.
red pill’s anti vax comments would have gotten a longer jail term in the usa
epoch times is against china though. it is strange, nowadays, right-wing groups support russia and many left-wing groups support ukraine. but almost all neonazis support ukraine, or at least the regime of kiev.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((state dept)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
this idiot stays among wolves and cries when its eaten, im surprised he qas taken to a basement before. who in his right mind does what he does, its not like he is in the front lines covering the war on the ground, he can have his podcasts from us and it will be the same.
sorry to say but i believe he is toast. he knew his time was short and made good use of it. we need more people like him but they don’t last long.
#free gonzalo lira
another assange…
he had to know that they would come after him sooner or later. wtf was he thinking ?