When it comes to AP correspondents that are there in the heat of the battle, YES!
Phil
The Grayzone spoke to Lira’s father, 80-year-old Gonzalo Lira Sr., about his son’s arrest. “I can only say that this episode has marked my life because it is living a slow death of a son,” Lira Sr. said. He fretted that the Ukrainian government was preparing a “kangaroo court” for his son, and lamented that it could lock him up for over a decade for his political speech.
Lira is an American and Chilean citizen who has been living in Kharkov, Ukraine for several years. He first emerged as a novelist, then attempted a career as a filmmaker before marketing himself as a dating coach known as “Coach Red Pill.”
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lira earned internet notoriety as a war blogger. His analysis of the Russian military operation and harsh criticisms of the Ukrainian government from within Ukrainian territory instantly transformed him into a top target of Kiev’s often rabid band of online supporters. On May 1, Ukrainian state security agents arrested Lira for the second time in just over a year.
The first time he was jailed, Lira emerged after several days, announcing his freedom to the public through new social media accounts. This time, however, Ukrainian authorities charged him with the alleged crime of justifying “Russia’s armed aggression” and disseminating “fakes about the war in Ukraine.” If convicted of these crimes, he faces 13 years in prison.
Lira’s arrest was announced alongside the detention of ten other so-called “internet agitators” living in Ukraine.
