“Only the guilty fear judgement,” Gonzo had written in his Twitter bio. “Only liars need stifle the truth.”

UPDATE 4: Gonzalo Lira was detained by SBU, but has was released with prohibition to leave Kharkov.

Fate of missing American Zelensky critic revealed

Gonzalo Lira said he had been taken by the Ukrainian Security Service last Friday

Chilean-American blogger Gonzalo Lira, who went missing in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov a week ago, has appeared online on Friday, revealing that he had been held by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

“I’m in Kharkov. I’m OK. I just want to say that I’m back online.” Lira said in short video chat with journalist Alex Christoforou on The Duran’s YouTube channel.

“I was picked up by the SBU on Friday, April 15,” the blogger revealed.

Speaking about his condition, the 54-year-old said that he was “fine physically,” but “a little rattled” and “a little bit discombobulated.” Lira made it clear that he was forbidden from revealing any details about what had happened to him in detention.

“I’m still in Kharkov and for the time being I cannot leave. The authorities here told me that I cannot leave the city,” he said, adding that his computer and phone were taken away and that he didn’t have access to his accounts on social media.

“There seems to have been like a lot of interest in my case, which is wonderful. Thank you. But there are a lot of other people, who are frankly more deserving of the attention,” the blogger said. Lira was referring to his tweet from March 26, in which he listed the names of Ukrainian opposition figures, who are thought to have died or disappeared since the outbreak of the conflict, adding then that “if you haven’t heard from me in 12 hours or more, put my name on this list.”

Gonzalo Lira is an American/Chilean truth-speaker, thinker and businessman who was stranded in Ukraine at the time of the start of the Russian Special Operation for denazification of the country. After he was kicked out of the hotel in Kiev for speaking directly of his observations of the situation on his YouTube channel, he moved to Kharkov with the help of some friends, and continued posting occasional streams with logical and through-provoking analysis of exactly the type that the ukro-Nazis and their handlers were loath to see.

His latest interview with Scott Ritter was aired 9 days ago, but then – silence. Yesterday, there emerged some video evidence that Gonzalo Lira was found, tortured and murdered by the ukro-Nazi “Azov” terrorists (who are quite possibly even worse than ISIS). If the report of his murder is true, it only confirms that Gonzalo Lira was speaking of the true state of events, which the Kiev ukro-Nazi regime could not afford to become known in the world.

UPDATE 3: Chile joins efforts to find missing Kiev critic Gonzalo Lira:

A fragment of an article by Egor Leev on Ukraina.ru:

…
However, people are dying and disappearing not only where the fighting is going on.

Thus, on the morning of April 21, it became known that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile is investigating the fate of a citizen of this country, journalist and writer Gonzalo Lira Lopez, who criticized the Ukrainian authorities and disappeared in Kharkov.

“The Foreign Ministry was informed through the consulate in Moscow that the relatives of Gonzalo Lira Lopez, who was in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, lost contact with him on April 15. The Ministry is in contact with the relevant authorities to obtain information about the whereabouts of the Chilean citizen,” the ministry told RIA Novosti.

According to the journalist’s Twitter posts, in which he calls himself “a Chilean in Kharkov,” the last time he got in touch was five days ago.

Lopez has repeatedly criticized the policy of the Ukrainian authorities. At the same time, in one of the tweets, he wrote that some actions could be taken against him.

“If you haven’t heard from me for 12 hours or more, add me to this list,” the journalist noted.

In the list given by him are the mayor of Kremennaya (which was under the control of the Ukrainian authorities at the time of the crime) who was killed by unknown persons Vladimir Struk; the deceased member of the Ukrainian delegation at negotiations with Russia Denis Kireev; a satirist and poet Yan Taksyur, detained by the SBU in Kiev.

At the same time, in the United States – Lira Lopez was also an American citizen – they believe that he was killed. The American military commentator Scott Ritter is sure of this.

The fact that Lira ended up in the hands of nationalists was reported by a former member of “Azov” Sergey Korotkov, known by the call signs Malyuta or Boatswain. He runs the Boatsman Boys division, previously operating in Bucha and Irpen. His unit is suspected of killing civilians in these cities.

On Twitter, Korotkov was interested in where Lira was.

And after that, he posted a record that Lira was caught by nationalists.

“The amazing irony is that Gonzalo Lira is a Chilean who was caught by a fighter with the call sign Chile. Let’s hope for a video with a head cut off,” Korotkov wrote, posting a photo of the commander of the 226th battalion of the AFU, part of the Kraken Azov unit, Sergei Velichko, known by the call sign Chili.

In the photo, Velichko was showing off his biceps. Earlier Korotkov asked to give this sign to the one who will detain Lyra in Kharkov.

Velichko is known for the fact that the soldiers of his unit and, presumably, he himself, tortured and killed Russian prisoners of war.

Korotkov also reposted the news that Lyra was most likely killed by accompanying it with a crab emoji, which may be a reference to the Kraken unit.

After foreigners noticed the recording of Korotkov, he closed his account to outsiders. However, users managed to take screenshots.

Despite the fact that Lira was also an American citizen, it is unlikely that Velichko and Korotkov will be interrogated by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

When Belorussian authorities pulled Roman Protasevich, a blogger who had served a combat tour in the neo-Nazi Azov battalion before working for Radio Free Europe’s Belarus channel out of Prague, off an airplane in May, 2021, on charges of inciting a political opposition (roughly the equivalent of sedition), the world went crazy, accusing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trampling on free speech. Protasevich is alive and well, living under house arrest while awaiting trial.
When reports emerged that Gonzo Lira, a Chilean social media “influencer” who resided in Kharkov, Ukraine, and who published online content critical of the Ukrainian government, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Kraken Unit, part of the Azov battalion affiliated with the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), the West is silent.
Free speech isn’t a one way street. To remain silent in the murder of Gonzo Lira is to be complicit in his death, and the deaths of all journalists who pursue the truth, even if it runs counter to the mainstream narrative. Critical thinking should not be a death sentence. Unfortunately for Gonzo Lira, it seems it was.

A point of clarification—I have no direct evidence that Gonzalo has been killed. I was clear I was referring to “reports emerging” about his demise. But Gonzo said any disappearance of more than 12 hours should be treated as if something bad had happened to him. It’s been five days. If this had been a New York Times reporter disappearing in Russian controlled territory, it would be headline news—especially if a Chechen “hunter killer” team had taken credit for his death. But with Gonzo—silence. Which was the whole purpose of the post: to raise awareness about his disappearance.

UPDATE: An article on it appeared on RT as well:

American Zelensky critic goes missing in Ukraine

Chilean-American blogger Gonzalo Lira was last heard from in Ukraine almost a week ago. He was reporting from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov and has been a critic of President Volodymyr Zelensky and of Ukraine’s conduct during the conflict.

The Chilean foreign ministry said that it was aware that “those close to the Chilean Gonzalo Lira Lopez, who was in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov,” had lost contact with him since April 15. According to the diplomats, they remained in touch “with the relevant entities, to stay informed regarding any news about the location of [our] compatriot.”

Lira, who is a Chilean-American author and movie maker who used to work in Hollywood, was to appear on former UK MP George Galloway’s radio show Mother of All Talk Shows (MOATS) on Sunday, but ended up missing the program.

“It’s with great regret and even greater sense of concern and anxiety and more, that I have to tell you that there is still no sign of our first guest Gonzalo Lira,” Galloway said on his show.

…

UPDATE 2: Scott Ritter wrote an extensive Op-Ed on RT:

An American journalist goes missing in Ukraine. The silence is deafening

…
No soldier believes that he or she will be shot until the bullet strikes home. And no political dissident or free speech advocate believes he or she will be silenced until the knock comes at their door.

I received a telephone call on Sunday, April 17 from a producer for George Galloway’s The Mother of all Talk Shows (MOAT). Gonzalo Lira was scheduled to appear as a guest, and he had gone missing. George wanted to know if I had heard from Gonzalo. Sadly, I had not.

On the same day, Max Blumenthal and Esha Krishnaswamy, writing for The Grayzone, published an article titled “‘One less traitor’: Zelensky oversees campaign of assassination, kidnapping and torture of political opposition” which, in light of Gonzalo’s disappearance, was not only timely but deeply disturbing.

Citing war-time necessity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared martial law and banned all real opposition parties (the neo-Nazi parties and organizations, however, remained untouched.) “The activities of those politicians aimed at division or collusion will not succeed, but will receive a harsh response,” Zelensky stated.
…

PS: Austria just passed a Nazi-grade law, prohibiting repost of truth. They are really scared of it!