Special Episode: Gonzalo Lira
Well, his is name you’ve probably never heard… Gonzalo Lira. Why should you know him?
Because his story is a microcosm of the entire Ukraine narrative… a narrative that claims to be one of freedom and democracy but, in fact, appears to be shrouded in darkness and oppression.
Lira was an American citizen but for the last seven years, he lived in Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife and two young children.
He was arrested by the Ukrainian government for “justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine,” something here in the U.S., we would call free speech. His father says he was tortured… and then Gonzalo Lira’s life was taken.
I’m investigative journalist Ben Swann and over the past year, our team has been investigating the true story of Voldymyr Zelensky and the war in Ukraine… in that process we were some of the last people Gonzalo Lira would ever speak to.
He granted us an exclusive interview soon after his first detainment, but he was afraid to answer some of our questions. In fact, here’s what he told us when we asked him about claims that the Ukrainian military was blaming Russia for crimes that they themselves had committed.
Lira: The fact is that – How could I put this carefully? I don’t want to create the conditions or the excuse to lose my liberty at this time. And so I’m going to have to decline. After this conflict is over, I’m happy to tell you exactly incidents that I think were not what they were claimed to be.
Gonzalo Lira did not live long enough to give us a second interview, or to see the end of the war. A political prisoner in Ukraine, he died last month, reportedly of pneumonia. Again, his alleged crime– he was never convicted – was voicing an opinion that differed from the Ukrainian government. The same government that we have been told repeatedly, is a bastion of freedom in Eastern Europe. Days before he died, Gonzalo smuggled the following note from the hospital in which he was held:
Tell my sister: I have had a double pneumonia (both lungs) as well as pneumothorax and a very severe case of edema (swelling of the body). All of this started in mid-October, but was ignored by the prison. They only admitted I had pneumonia at a Dec. 22 hearing.
A week later, Gonzalo’s father, Gonzalo Lira, Sr., announced that his son was dead.
In a statement, he wrote this: “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.” “My pain is unbearable. The world must know what is going on in Ukraine with that inhuman dictator Zelensky.”
I agree, and that is precisely why we decided to make this documentary series, Zelensky Unmasked. As I mentioned, our team has spent over a year researching and conducting dozens of interviews inside and outside of Ukraine to reveal what is really happening, and what our U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent on.
You know, here at Truth in Media we were shocked, saddened and disgusted by Gonzalo Lira’s death. But we also recognize Gonzalo Lira is only one death of tens of thousands as a result of this war.
Millions more have been displaced, and the question is why? In the cause of freedom or in the cause of a very few powerful people becoming much more wealthy.
We aim to bring justice these lives that have been so unjustly destroyed.
So to see our series, follow us on X at Truth_inMedia and check us out right now at Truth in Media.com
