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Tucker Carlson reports on death of American reporter in Ukrainian custody

Gonzalo Lira was in prison because of criticism of the governments of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and US President Joe Biden, the TV presenter said

NEW YORK, January 12. /TASS/. Reporter Gonzalo Lira, a citizen of Chile and the US, who was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has died in prison, US journalist Tucker Carlson said, citing Lira’s father.

"Gonzalo Lira, Sr. says his son has died at 55 in a Ukrainian prison, where he was being held for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments," Carlson wrote on the X social media platform (formerly Twitter).

He added that despite Lira’s American citizenship, the US administration "clearly supported his imprisonment and torture."

On Saturday, US entrepreneur Elon Musk addressed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, asking him to explain Lira’s arrest and incarceration. Musk voiced his opinion on the issue following Carlson’s post on the X platform asserting that Lira was being "tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky."

In the spring, Russia urged the global journalist community to speak out in defense of Lira, who was abducted by the SBU, and demand his immediate release. The blogger was detained by the SBU in Kharkov in May. He was accused of supporting Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The SBU insists that the journalist was arrested and given bail but after paying it Lira violated the law and purportedly attempted to flee the country on his own motorcycle via a checkpoint on the border with Hungary. According to the latest data, Lira was at a pre-trial detention facility in the city of Kharkov awaiting trial.

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