Gonzalo Lira’s last Twitter message thread from the Ukraine-Hungary border | Jul 31, 2023
Ref:
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Original thread starts from:
https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968/status/1686140558803140608
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
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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.
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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.
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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.
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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.
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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.
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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 bullshit—we’re not sending him back.”
24/
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
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
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 31, 2023
