Blinken Brags Over (((Gershkovich))), Pretends Gonzalo Lira Didn't Exist

While speaking to "journalists" during a Friday press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken patted himself on the back for securing the release of the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich - telling them "Maybe the most striking part of spending time with Evan, is simply how wonderful it feels to see him free. Home where he belongs."

"Evan’s freedom is also a reminder of all Americans who are still held hostage or wrongfully detained," Blinken continued.

"We will not forget you, and we will not rest until we get you home."

It’s hard to overstate what an egregious display of sanctimonious hypocrisy this is when Blinken’s department wittingly neglected Gonzalo Lira — the California-born writer for mainstream financial outlets like Business Insider, Seeking Alpha, and even ZeroHedge — as he was tortured in a Ukrainian dungeon for eight months until his eventual death at the start of this year. State Spox Matthew Miller was aware of Lira being tortured for at least five of those months.

Lira’s father has accused Biden administration of greenlighting the arrest of his son, pointing to a video published to Lira’s YouTube days before his arrest in which he was uncharacteristically critical of Biden and Kamala. The video, interestingly enough, is titled "Joe Biden Will Be Removed—Kamala Will Be President."

That such a greenlight was given is not far-fetched considering Ukraine’s massive incentive to curry favor with the American government that had approved more than $100 billion already by this point (now at $175 billion). Would the Ukrainians risk the political backlash of arresting a U.S. citizen unless first given the go-ahead?

Regardless, the State Department’s Miller acknowledged to me that he was aware of Lira’s arrest in May of 2023. Three months later, Miller then — after being made aware of allegations that Lira’s prison guards had tortured him with severe beating and having his cornea scraped with a toothpick — said he wanted to investigate the torture claims.

Yet, despite near-constant email correspondence between Lira’s father and State Dept officials, nothing was done and Lira died of pneumonia, an infection commonly treatable with antibiotics.

Source : https://www.zerohedge.com/political/blinken-brags-over-gershkovich-pretends-gonzalo-lira-didnt-exist