News/Commentary

American journalist rots in Ukraine prison as Biden calls for billions more for Zelenskyy

September 20, 2023 | | Print Article

An American journalist remains behind bars in Ukraine even as the Biden administration continues to demand more money for the war-torn nation.

The journalist, Gonzalo Lira, was thrown “into prison indefinitely [in May] for the crime of daring to write about the Ukrainian government in unflattering ways,” as reported by Tucker Carlson in June.

“Now, what separates this from other such cases is that Lira is an American citizen. So Joe Biden, who is quite a bit of SWAT as they say in Ukraine, could have freed Gonzalo Lira within hours. But he didn’t. He didn’t want to. He didn’t say a word about it. He remains in prison tonight,” Carlson added.

Months later, he still remains behind bars, with the administration having reportedly made zero efforts to secure his release.

Questioned this Tuesday by Breitbart about Lira’s incarceration, a State Department spokesperson basically shrugged with indifference.

“We are aware of the detention of Mr. Lira in Ukraine. We take our role in assisting U.S. citizens abroad seriously and are providing all appropriate assistance. We are monitoring the situation but have no further comment at this time. We reiterate our message that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict,” they said.

Uh huh …

Meanwhile, the administration has been busy demanding Congress approve more money for Ukraine.

“President Joe Biden is asking Congress for more than $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs as he works to sustain support for the war amid signs of softening support among Americans,” CNN reported in August.

“The request – which includes more than $13 billion in security assistance and $7.3 billion for economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine – sets up a potential battle with Republicans in Congress, some of whom voice skepticism about providing Ukraine any more money,” according to CNN.

The president doubled down on his support for Ukraine while speaking before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

“[T]he United States, together with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom,” he said.

“It’s not only an investment in Ukraine’s future, but in the future of every country that seeks a world governed by basic rules that apply equally to all nations and uphold the rights of every nation, no matter how big or how small: sovereignty, territorial integrity. They are the fixed foundations of this noble body, and universal human rights is its North Star. We cannot sacrifice either,” he added.

Dovetailing back to Lira, Breitbart notes that he was living in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when he was arrested in May under Ukraine’s “wartime propaganda  laws.”

He was specifically arrested for publishing content to YouTube questioning the West’s dubious narratives about the Ukraine-Russian war.

Then in July, he “posted messages on Twitter and YouTube claiming that he was going to try to cross the Ukrainian border into Hungary to claim asylum after being released from prison on bail.”

He hasn’t been seen online since.

In his final YouTube message, he reportedly claimed that if he didn’t post again, it would mean he’d been arrested once more by Ukrainian authorities. In that case, he said, he hoped the public would raise “a ruckus.”

“I will definitely be sent to a prison labor camp, where I will most certainly die, and so I decided that the smart thing was take my chances in terms of getting across the border. Right now I’m maybe five kilometers away from the border with Hungary,” he said.

“I would ask you humbly that if you don’t hear from me again, anybody and everybody who’s watching this video, please raise a ruckus,” he added.

Thankfully for Lira, the public is making a ruckus — specifically by bombarding President Joe Biden with tweets demanding accountability for his incarceration.

Look:

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Vivek Saxena
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