I dunno, the fifth post today?
Testimony alleging that Ukrainian Secret Service tortured Americans, killing one, among other acts that, if true, are hardly those of an ally or western democracy:
Ukrainian Whistleblower: ‘How the SBU Robbed and Killed a U.S. Citizen’
FEBRUARY 19, 2025 BY NEWS WIRE 2 COMMENTS
One of Ukraine’s most important whistleblowers, former Parliamentarian and People’s Deputy, Oleksandr Dubinsky, currently imprisoned by President Zelensky, has released a stunning video testimony this week – which exposes an egregious crime committed by his country’s Secret Service (SBU) against a U.S. citizen who was residing in Ukraine.
Presently, Dubinsky is being held in a secure facility where his is currently awaiting trial, after the state after a criminal case had been initiated against him for the alleged crime of high treason.
In his video below, Dubinsky reveals more crucial details about the death of Gonzalo Lira, a popular American video blogger and independent journalist, who reportedly died under unusual circumstanced while held in custody for criticizing the Zelensky government’s performance in the war, as well as criticism of Kiev regime’s repression of religious freedom in Ukraine.
The following is an English translation of Dubinsky’s recent video, interspersed with statements made by Vasily Nebenzya, the current Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations:
Dubinsky: Friends, hello, everyone. I am glad to see and hear you all. Another important statement that came from the representative of the aggressor State, the representative of the Russian Federation in the UN Security Council, Nebenzya. This is a statement that a US citizen, Gonzalo Lira, died in the SBU concentration camps, in the so-called ‘torture and secret prisons.’
Nebenzya: And listen to what the escaped deputy of the Rada (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) Artem Dmytruk told. How he was tortured by SBU officers in 2022, trying to extract testimony and confession of treason. The main claim against him was that he spoke in defense of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Here are excerpts from his gruesome account published on the internet. I quote: “I was thrown on the cold and wet floor, somewhere nearby I heard the screams and groans of my friends. A little further away were the screams and groans of other people and the horrible sounds of torture. They were beating me terribly, trying to gouge out my eyes. I lost consciousness several times and fell from the chair, came to my senses and was tortured again.” End quote. He was threatened to be shot or disabled. After that he was transported to the gym of the Odessa SBU office, where he was forced to say loudly and clearly on camera that he would never again criticize Vladimir Zelensky and the head of his office, Andrei Yermak. In addition, he was forced to be an SBU agent to fight the opposition to Zelensky. Dmytruk is not the only politician who stated about the existence of SBU concentration camps in Kiev. Another Rada deputy, Oleksandr Dubynskyy, in particular, previously reported about the existence of such camps in Kiev. He claims that more than 300 people were tortured through it in order to extract testimony against now-elected US President Donald Trump for use in the electoral struggle in the United States. Interesting confessions, aren’t they? From them you can get an impression of what the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, arrested in August 2023, tortured to death and died in the SBU walls on January 12, 2024, had to go through. And what 70-year-old human rights activist Olena Berezhnaya, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison a month ago after months of torture in SBU custody, who was never broken by the Zelensky clique, had to face because she went to the United Nations and spoke out about human rights violations by the Kiev regime.
Dubinsky: This is also a confirmed fact. This is not the Russian IPSO, and of course, on the one hand, I am not happy that my investigations are being exploited by Russia Today. But if the Ukrainian government allowed the creation of torture secret prisons and concentration camps where Ukrainian citizens were being killed, broken and destroyed, and where US citizens were also destroyed there – then it doesn’t matter who is talking about it, as long as it is a fact confirmed by the reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ukrainian register of court decisions – which today contains dozens of decisions on the case of Gonzalo Lira, an American citizen who was detained under the same article, by the way, that was presented today to blogger Max Nazarov – “Glorification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. Under this article, he was detained in Kharkiv, brought to Kyiv, then held in the SBU concentration camp “Gym,” then returned to Kharkiv, placed there in the SBU detention center, and then from the SBU detention center he was transferred to the Kharkiv detention center, in the so-called “Common Fund” detention center.
In this Kharkiv detention center, US citizen Gonzalo Lira was tortured and money extorted from him. According to publications in his social networks and private correspondence, which I have at my disposal, Gonzalo Lira says that he was extorted for $70,000 dollars and gave it to the SBU officers of Kharkiv region, who opened a criminal case against him and kept him in the detention center. And they extorted money from him by means of abuse and torture, which were carried out on him in the Kharkiv detention center. These correspondence of Gonzalo Lira indicates that they beat him there, broke his ribs, tried to pull out his eye with a toothpick. This is how a U.S. citizen was treated in the 21st century in the center of Europe, in European Ukraine. Think about how stupid they are. I mean, people realized they were dealing with an American citizen, but they didn’t care. They tortured him, killed him, beat him to death, gouged out his eyes – so that he would just give them the money. Impunity and stupidity, under the guise of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Gonzalo Lira ended up with a broken rib.
He suffered a so-called pneumothorax as a result of this fracture. This is when bone fragments after broken ribs as a result of beating or trauma, which pierced the lung. Water begins to accumulate there, and the person dies. So, in the Ukrainian Register of Court Decisions there is a decision of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kharkiv, in which Gonzalo Lira is present via video link, and he already has bilateral inflammation of the lungs at that time, which is January 2024. His lawyer demands to transfer him under house arrest, because the man was really dying, but at the same time the prosecutor’s office, representatives of the SBU, judges and most importantly – the medical part of Kharkiv pre-trial detention center – claimed there was nothing threatening the life of Gonzalo Lira. And he literally in a few weeks dies in Kharkiv pre-trial detention center from pulmonary hydrocele, which was caused by broken ribs that punctured his lungs. It is obvious that he was not released from the Kharkiv SIZO after the beatings for three reasons. One: he would have clearly stated that he was seriously injured. And I emphasize again – I have his correspondence and statements, where he clearly describes what torture was, and how he was tortured in the Kharkiv detention center. The second reason is that he would have reported extortion by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine, and I also have these documents. And, finally, the third reason – if he was released with such fractures and such injuries, it would be obvious to everyone that he was tortured, and information would come out about the SBU concentration camp “Gym”, where foreign citizens were kept, and about the SBU torture in Kharkiv. And most importantly, the administration of outgoing President Biden, represented by Secretary of State Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, actually gave the go-ahead for an American citizen to be killed in a Ukrainian prison. Why did it give the go-ahead for this? Because Gonzalo Lira in his videos criticized not only the Ukrainian leadership, but criticized Americans as well, calling them out as responsible for unleashing the war in Ukraine. That’s what he was essentially killed for.
I recorded a lengthy video for you from the Kiev Court of Appeals, where they read excerpts from Gonzalo Lira’s reports about the torture that was carried out on him. Just watch this video so that you understand what Malyuk’s and Bakanov’s employees, SBU employees, were doing, how they were torturing Ukrainian and American citizens just to extort money from them. And then, after getting $70,000 dollars from Gonzalo Lira, they killed him to cover up their crimes.
Dubinsky’s speech in the Kyiv Court of Appeal
“An American citizen and blogger, Gonzalo Lopez Lira, was tortured in this concentration camp, the ‘Gym’. He got into this concentration camp, was held there (I have testimony that shows the stay of an American citizen Gonzalo Lopez Lira in the “Gym” concentration camp), and then was killed in the Kharkiv detention center. No one investigated this issue, because, of course, US and Ukrainian officials were not interested in the fact that a US citizen could be tortured to death in a European, democratic Ukraine. But we have the relevant documents personally from Gonzalo Lopez Lira, written by him. They are written in English. I will pass them on and hope that our esteemed judges on the appellate level know English and will read them. What do these messages from Gonzalo Lopez Lira say? They say that he was detained after being repeatedly beaten and after being released from the concentration camp (and he made further recordings), he was detained again by the Security Service of Ukraine, charged with glorification of Russian armed aggression and, since he is registered in Kharkiv, sent to the Kharkiv pre-trial detention center. According to reports personally from an American citizen, which I will also pass on to you for your assessment, Gonzalo Lopez Lira has been in the so-called “pressure cell” 4 times. During this time, his ribs were broken, and in order to get money from him, because I’m speaking not only about beatings, but also about extortion of money, they tried to gouge out his eye with a toothpick. He describes the process: how his head is clamped between someone’s knees, and they try to gouge out his eye with a toothpick in order to get him to pay money. Gonzalo Lopez Lira pays representatives of the SBU and the Kharkiv detention center $70,000, as it is also stated here, to stop the abuse. And to give him the opportunity to get out of the detention center on bail. After that, the Dzerzhynskyi District Court of Kharkiv decided to set bail for Gonzalo Lopez Lira in the amount of $11,000. He tries to leave Ukraine, is grabbed again, thrown into the detention center, beaten again, and suffers a pneumothorax. This is a lung injury due to a broken rib that pierces the lung tissue, bilateral pneumonia, edema, and he dies. There is a decision of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kharkiv, which clearly states that he is in critical condition, but the staff of the Health Care Organization of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine assure that Gonzalo Lopez Lira is not in danger. He is not provided with a lawyer, he has a free Ukrainian lawyer who does not even speak English. Then, two weeks after the hearing, he dies in the Kharkiv pre-trial detention center from pneumothorax and bilateral pneumonia. In order to cover up the crimes against the US citizen, extortion of money from him and infliction of bodily harm, including in the SBU concentration camp. This is just an illustration of how criminal cases are fabricated in modern Ukraine under such a convenient article as “high treason”. And how judges participate in this fabrication in order to keep people who interfere or threaten the regime under control.”
“I have everything, I am providing you with the relevant materials. Make a decision, give another assessment that all this does not exist.”
Watch Oleksandr Dubinsky’s video here (enable subtitles for English translation):
https://youtu.be/9V7N53cDxXc?feature=sharedhttps://21stcenturywire.com/2025/02/19/ukrainian-whistleblower-how-the-sbu-robbed-and-killed-a-u-s-citizen/
