What happened to Gonzalo Lira?

[arwen]

Posted by Gonzalo Lira on Twitter a short while ago:

Text:

Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968

Right now, I'm about to try to get out of Ukraine, and seek political asylum in Hungary.

Either I'll cross the border and make it to safety, or I'll be disappeared by the Kiev regime.

This is what's happened to me over the past three months.

1/25

On May 1, I was arrested for my YouTube videos. The photos of my arrest are pretty funny—morning bed-head made me look like a character out of Dr. Seuss.

My crime was making videos critical of the West and their proxy regime in Kiev—and how they are destroying Ukraine.

2/

Attached to these tweets is the full indictment against me, both the original Ukrainian and English translation.

As you can see, even the prosecutor admits I committed no crime against property or any person. And I certainly provided no aid or intelligence to the Russians.

3/

My indictment explicitly states that all I did was discuss publicly known facts about the war—the epitome of free speech in a democracy.

But Zelensky’s Ukraine is no democracy—it is a thieving, corrupt, murderous gangster regime PRETENDING to be a polite “western” democracy.

4/

Once arrested, I was given documentation assuring me that I was “guaranteed the right” to contact my lawyers and loved ones, as well as post bail.

In fact, I was blocked from calling anyone—even my lawyers. And I was not permitted to post bail—though I had the cash to do so.

5/

In other words, the formalities were carried out scrupulously—while judicial and ethical grotesqueries ruled.

That's Zelensky’s Ukraine. That's what his thuggish regime cares about: The >perception< of democracy and the rule of law, so as to mask the sordid, corrupt reality.

6/

That's why they relentlessly persecute anyone who tells the truth about this war. I'm not the only so-called “propagandist” the Kiev regime has thrown in prison.

It's also why they shoot any AFU soldier who dares retreat. That's why the AFU losses are so horrific—but hidden.

7/

As you can see by the indictment, the video I made that really chapped their ass was “Ukraine: A Primer”, which gives the historical background to the conflict—where I state outright that this invasion wasn't out of the blue. That indeed, it was provoked by the Kiev regime.

8/

Once inside Sizo Prison, I was tortured in two of the four cells I was in—by the other prisoners. Guards NEVER beat prisoners—they outsource torture to the other prisoners.

One prisoner actually apologized to me, telling me he had no choice. He wasn't lying. I understood.

9/

I got a cracked rib in my first cell, but it wasn't too bad. The worst stretch was in my fourth cell.

From 1pm on June 21 until 7pm the next day—30 hours—I was beaten and sleep deprived, my arms twisted the wrong way around at the shoulders, and generally beaten pretty bad.

10/

I've taken a beating in my time. So sure, it hurt like hell, but it was manageable—but then at one point, two thugs held my head and used a toothpick to scratch the whites of my left eye, while asking me if I could still read if I had just one.

ngl, >that< was unnerving.

11/

Near the end of this session, one of the thugs struck me in the chest so hard and so repetitively that the beating left a yellow-and-green splotch dead-center on my sternum.

He was >berated< by the cell boss, because he'd left a mark on me—which was a no-no.

>Perceptions<

12/

Then as luck would have it, two days later—when the bruising was in full bloom—a senior guard came to give me a wellness check!

This was likely because of the Chilean embassy efforts.

The US embassy called me three times, but gave me nothing but “support”—empty bromides.

13/

The guard told me to remove my shirt so he could look me over. The bruising was really spectacular—but he just nodded and pretended he didn't see a thing.

>Perceptions< He'd checked me, right?

Why was I beaten to the point of torture? Well—it wasn't over my YouTube videos!

14/

I was imprisoned because of my videos—no doubt. The videos are why the SBU arrested me and put me in Sizo Prison without bail.

But as they investigated me—and examined my computers and accounts, all of which they confiscated and opened—the SBU realized that I'm not poor.

15/

So once they had me imprisoned for my videos, the SBU took the opportunity to extort money from me—using the guards as accomplices, who in turn used the prisoners as the muscle.

How I discovered this is too complicated for a Twitter thread. But I'm writing a book about it.

16/

All told, they extorted USD$70,000 out of me, and split it among themselves. They also took another $9k when they arrested me (my emergency cash). And another 11 grand, which was the bail money.

With the computers, iPhone, etc., I'm out an even 100k on this adventure.

17/

I'm never seeing any of that back, not even the bail money—because I've decided to leave Ukraine before my trial.

My trial is on Wednesday August 2—and I've already been told: I WILL be found guilty.

My sentence will be five to eight years in a prison labor camp.

Yeah.

18/

But here's the thing: The conditions of my bail are that I have to wear an electronic monitor, surrender my passports, and not leave the city of Kharkov, much less the country.

HOWEVER—after posting bail, I >didn't< get an ankle monitor—and they >returned< my passports.

19/

Later at the SBU offices, they >returned other documents< they'd confiscated—my driver's license and my motorcycle registration.

In Sizo, I told an inmate how last year I'd been detained, released, but told not to leave Ukraine. He laughed. “They were telling you to leave!”

20/

This time, it looks like the same is happening: They're telling me not to leave—but leaving the door open.

Or so I hope.

Or maybe I'm being set up by them so they can justify putting me away in a labor camp—so no one will ever know about their sordid extortion scheme.

21/

I simply don't know. So I decided to die trying.

I rode my motorcycle across Ukraine—1,400 kms in two days.

I'm going to Hungary to ask for political asylum.

When I fail to show up in court in Kharkov, an arrest warrant will be issued, likely an international warrant.

22/

No doubt other EU countries will comply like sheep, returning me to serve five to eight years in a prison labor camp—

—regardless of the fact that Kiev arrested and imprisoned me for >YouTube videos!<

For free speech!

What happened to “European democratic values?

lol

23/

And the US State Department would return me too. I'm not a black lesbian druggie, or a transgender grifter. Besides, Victoria Nuland hates my guts, or so I'm told.

I'm hoping the Hungarians will read my indictment and say, “This is bull****—we’re not sending him back.”

24/

I'm posting this thread just as I'm getting to the border checkpoint. I'm also posting videos on the two channels I have access to, The Roundtable and Gonzalo Lira—Again.

If you don't hear from me in the next 12 hours—whelp! I'm on my way to a labor camp!

Wish me luck.

25/25

(First Twitter post in the thread, if you have access you can follow the Twitter thread from here):

There is also this thread reader unroll where you can see all the tweets plus images posted if you do not have access to Twitter, but it excludes comments on the posts:

Thread Reader Gonzalo Lira

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/OlgaBazova/statu...47616688541696

[Sue (Ayt)]

In his own words

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AW274f8s-ws

[arwen]

Thanks Sue, was just about to post that.

Here are parts 2 and 3:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TuvY9l0ShhA

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9jUa45UcOvE

[Szymon]

Posted by arwen (here)
Thanks Sue, was just about to post that.

Here are parts 2 and 3:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TuvY9l0ShhA

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9jUa45UcOvE

We'll just have to wait and see what happens at the border.

[grapevine]

Maybe I'm being fanciful but perhaps within Gonzalo's videos there was a coded message and he'll be picked up and taken to safety, as given his location and the nature of the government there, it would've been wise to have had a Plan B. He has a LOT of support internationally . . . Let's hold on to the positives until we hear from him again.

[Bill Ryan]

Some following this thread might be interested to hear Scott Ritter on this, towards the end of a long interview by Danny Haiphong published 12 hours ago. Danny asks Ritter for his thoughts at 1:38:35.

Ritter is careful in what he says (and clearly he wasn't anticipating the question), but the briefest summary of quite a long answer is that he considers that any intelligence officer with any experience would be asking some questions about the whole Gonzalo Lira saga. (And I would have to agree that there are a few aspects of the history that do seem a little hard to understand.)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OSffxSPLPro

[arwen]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
Ritter is careful in what he says (and clearly he wasn't anticipating the question), but the briefest summary of quite a long answer is that he considers that any intelligence officer with any experience would be asking some questions about the whole Gonzalo Lira saga. (And I would have to agree that there are a few aspects of the history that do seem a little hard to understand.)

I agree. Taking it at face value, one is concerned for the wellbeing of someone having been through all that. But now, for me, the story is becoming a little odd and some things not adding up. (And I am not an intelligence officer, just an unremarkable particle of the great unwashed)

- Why would they let him go free to humiliate Ukraine by describing corruption in prison?

- I know people process trauma differently but he just does not seem like someone who has endured physical torture like that - his demeanor is not of one who has recently suffered

- His explanation of making a lot of money from journalism while young also does not sit well - I do not know of any journalists who are wealthy other than Pulitzer prize winners and I do not recall him being a Pulitzer prize winner

- Why were his wife and children not in Ukraine with him?

- He refers to "Vicky" Nuland as "hating his guts" - but the use of the name "Vicky" is what one uses as a name of endearment - or naming someone well known personally. She is well known as Victoria, the use of "Vicky" is not out there, and possibly only used by her close associates, colleagues and family. May just be a cultural lense on my part, but that flagged for me.

I am not saying he is being primed to be deployed as a deep state plant into say, Russia, but one cannot rule that out at this stage completely. It could all be really innocent and true.

For now, I leave it open to see what unfolds but as the saga goes on, I have more and more red flags popping up. No conclusions yet, just flags.

I still care for his safety and well being, despite that.

[Ewan]

It could appear like hindsight now, but as I watched his first of three! videos yesterday I remember thinking 'this guy is an idiot!' He was going to be uploading these before he got to the border? Like no-one from the SBU monitors social media posts, especially from a 'person of high interest'. All it takes is a phone call and he's greeted with guns at the border.

So subsequently I paid little attention to what he said in videos 2 & 3. It all seemed highly suspect and no matter what convulted angle I look at it from I cannot see any benefit to any of the chessboard pieces - except one. And that is mostly fanciful musings. What if USA was ready to turn their back on Ukraine? (I did say it was fanciful!). The fact he specifically mentoined V. Nuland actually made me wonder if this was some State Dept. play - but it can't be, why would the SBU play along with such a scenario?

Oh! Surely not?

[ExomatrixTV]

• Gonzalo Lira 3 UPDATES Merged in to one 46 min 15 sec video!
  

First video since his arrest in Ukraine 3 months back. Out on bail, but [illegally] heading for the border. His chances of success largely unknown at this point. Here's a merge of 3 YouTube videos he uploaded earlier today, 31st July. God speed Gonzalo

• source
• twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968

[JackMcThorn]

Posted by arwen (here)
- Why would they let him go free to humiliate Ukraine by describing corruption in prison?

- I know people process trauma differently but he just does not seem like someone who has endured physical torture like that - his demeanor is not of one who has recently suffered

- His explanation of making a lot of money from journalism while young also does not sit well - I do not know of any journalists who are wealthy other than Pulitzer prize winners and I do not recall him being a Pulitzer prize winner

- Why were his wife and children not in Ukraine with him?

- He refers to "Vicky" Nuland as "hating his guts" - but the use of the name "Vicky" is what one uses as a name of endearment - or naming someone well known personally. She is well known as Victoria, the use of "Vicky" is not out there, and possibly only used by her close associates, colleagues and family. May just be a cultural lense on my part, but that flagged for me.

I am not saying he is being primed to be deployed as a deep state plant into say, Russia, but one cannot rule that out at this stage completely. It could all be really innocent and true.

For now, I leave it open to see what unfolds but as the saga goes on, I have more and more red flags popping up. No conclusions yet, just flags.

I still care for his safety and well being, despite that.

He graduated from Dartmouth in the middle 9o's and wrote a couple books in 1997 and 2oo2 which evidently sold pretty well. At least 2 of them are on Amazon yet. His second book was sold for a movie rights. He also was involved with other films. He was not a journalist back then.

https://www.paperbackswap.com/Gonzalo-Lira/author/

At some point his wife and children moved locations [I still think they were in Ukraine but not in Kharkov and he obviously would not say where.]

He got upset in a video long ago that someone referred to him as Gonzo, but the person did not know him and was not his friend so he should use his proper name. So that he used a nickname for Nuland seemed out of place but his nerves were shot and he just got done travelling all the way across Ukraine in a couple days on a motorcycle which is exhausting.

You have red flags but I think if you followed him at least some of his videos over the past year, you would know some of these answers. He is a pretty straight shooter and knows his facts.

Tomorrow on Wednesday is his court date in Ukraine where he should not be. I am thinking we will hear from him again soon.

[grapevine]

Deleted in the light of Scott Ritter's comments,

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Miller (here)
There's also been nothing yet from The Duran

This 20 minute video was published by them half an hour ago.

Gonzalo Lira seeks political asylum in Hungary

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rnz6yV45WN0

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
This 20 minute video was published by them half an hour ago.

That was followed closely by this from Alexander Mercouris, a longer daily commentary but which he opens with a very concerned 12 minute commentary on Gonzalo's situation.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=faKO3ki6uXw

[arwen]

It has been well over 12 hours since he posted and we have not heard from him. In his videos he stated that if we did not hear from him within 12 hours of his last postings we could assume he has been captured and returned to face 5 - 8 years in a prison labor camp. And if we did not hear from him he asked his followers to make a lot of noise. Just saying.

[Tintin]

Eva Bartlett also expresses her concerns regarding Gonzalo Lira's update. I'm posting this from the work office so can't access Telegram in my usual way, but this is from her, posted today:

Eva Karene Bartlett, Reality Theories
Very valid points. "Hmmm. In Kharkov. Tweeting/broadcasting anti-government messages. From Kharkov. During war. Arrested. By the SBU. Released. By the SBU. Continues tweeting/broadcasting anti-government messages. From Kharkov. During war. You do…"

In this clip, Ritter makes points which I've been myself thinking for quite a while. Worth the listen (do listen closely from 14:40).

My thoughts/questions (Note: I wish GL no ill whatsoever, but reserve the right to think critically about his story):

-GL disappears, the internet freaks out on his behalf (I myself advocated for him/his release) because his pinned tweet on his Twitter account at the time was: "For the truth about the Zelensky regime, Google these names: Vlodymyr Struk, Denis Kireev, Mikhail & Aleksander Kononovich, Nestor Shufrych, Yan Taksyur, Dmitri Djangirov, Elena Berezhnaya. Once again: If you haven’t heard from me in 12 hours or more, put my name on this list. GL"

*The names were all people arrested or killed by Ukraine.


-GL resurfaces, says he was "detained" by SBU but cannot discuss any of the details beyond saying he was detained.

-GL says SBU took his devices.

-GL opens new Twitter & Youtube & in a later interview says the SBU took his devices and changed the passwords on his accounts, gave the devices back to him.

-GL thanks but chastises people for freaking out on his behalf (which people did largely due to his pinned tweet).

-GL pins the same warning tweet on his new Twitter account (but he doesn't want you to freak out if he goes missing again 🙄...)

-GL continues doing what one cannot do in Ukraine without being murdered or otherwise disappeared...(although by this time the SBU know where he lives but for some reason allow him to continue doing interviews & tweeting...)

-GL is seen being detained by Ukrainian SBU, videos show this.

-Nothing heard from GL for over 2 months.

-GL posts Youtube videos & Twitter thread saying he has been released on bail (illogical if Ukraine views him as a threat), faces trial next day & instead of being sentenced to prison labour (I note my scepticism that he only faced a prison labour sentence and not death by proxy or indefinite imprisonment, if he was actually being charged by Ukraine...given how Ukraine normally treats dissidents/critics or anyone who even mildly critiques the government, which he himself alludes to in his pinned tweet. There's a host of examples of how Ukraine "liquidates" such people..) he's going to skip the country (luckily, his passport was given back to him when he was released...).

-He claims to have been tortured in prison, including having a rib cracked & a toothpick run across his eye...but his body language suggests otherwise. I've met enough people who've been tortured and seen the haunted look in their eyes & on their face. I didn't see it in GL's composure (which, in contrast was almost buoyant)...


...Anyway, I'm not going to spend longer on this than I have, although I'm sure there are many more holes in his story than those which came to mind just now. I could be entirely wrong, but reserve the right to think critically. Once again, I do not wish GL ill, but also won't be surprised to learn he is working with the SBU in some capacity.

t.me/Reality_Theories/13373

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Eva Bartlett also expresses her concerns regarding Gonzalo Lira's update.

Yes, many thanks.

Many are also asking why he didn't head for Russia, Belarus, or even Donbass (itself now formally and legally Russia). But maybe that's what he's actually done, and the Hungary thing was a misdirect. We just have to wait and see.

[arwen]

And more straight talking points along those lines:

Text of below tweet:

Yuliana Dlugaj 🇷🇺🇨🇳🇮🇷🇰🇵
@DlugajJuly

14h
That guy is an SBU asset.

Don't engage with him in any way (especially in real life).

And don't give him your money.
Tip
王蓉Rena🥭
@renawong85
·
13h
Why? He might be a bit flashy in his way of delivery, I find his intuitions about things generally accurate.
Tip
Yuliana Dlugaj 🇷🇺🇨🇳🇮🇷🇰🇵
@DlugajJuly
None of his story is believable to me dear.

Gonzalo disappeared twice and is still breathing while others got killed for way less. He's alive because he has a use for them and nothing else.

If someone's work is considered dangerous enough to get him investigated by the SBU and prosecuted then you don't set him free two days before his trial, give him access to all his electronic devices, hand him over his passport, and set him on his merry way so he's free to flee and continue his work only now armed with a captivating story about torture and the internal workings of the prison system of the SBU.

But most definitely you won't let him take off his electronic tag and drive across the entire country unhindered while announcing the details of his escape over a traceable device without snatching him right back.

Instead they would keep that guy in prison away from any camera, try him, and then disappear him in some dark hole where he doesn't interfere anymore and people will forget about him.

But it makes perfect sense if you want to establish him in the pro-Russian / alt-media community to have a source that can be used for any number of reasons.

His emotional and amazing story will guarantee him a spotlight and a prominent and authoritative voice with a large audience that can help steer the narrative, drown out other voices, and if necessary discredit others.

Additionally, all data that he has from his followers and the information they give him, especially from those in Ukraine will be available to the SBU of course.

Gonzalo is a flycatcher and a mole and tells us exactly what we want to hear.

[grapevine]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Tintin (here)
Eva Bartlett also expresses her concerns regarding Gonzalo Lira's update.

Yes, many thanks.

Many are also asking why he didn't head for Russia, Belarus, or even Donbass (itself now formally and legally Russia). But maybe that's what he's actually done, and the Hungary thing was a misdirect. We just have to wait and see.

Gonzalo Lira said that direction was heavily mined

[arwen]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
Yes, many thanks.

Many are also asking why he didn't head for Russia, Belarus, or even Donbass (itself now formally and legally Russia). But maybe that's what he's actually done, and the Hungary thing was a misdirect. We just have to wait and see.

Yes. Too soon to tell. In such dark times mistrust is unfortunately natural. And not unreasonable. But lest we lose our humanity, benefit of the doubt is owed in this case, until further data becomes available as it unfolds.