„I do not know this person and have never known him“.
This was the Ukrainian president's response at a press conference in Kiev on the death of the American journalist and blogger Gonzalo Lira, who died in Ukrainian pre-trial detention, to a question from a Chilean journalist.
The South American media representative noted that, according to Lira's family, the order for the murder was given by Zelensky himself. Initially, Zelensky said that he did not understand the question, and when the journalist explained that he simply had to ask it, Zelensky replied: „Are you sure?“
On February 19, Elon Musk accused Zelensky of killing Lira. On February 22, the entrepreneur stressed that the Ukrainian president should not have killed the American journalist and that Zelensky does not even understand why this is bad.
Lira was detained in Kharkiv in May 2023. He was accused of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In October 2023, Lira fell ill with double pneumonia. According to the journalist's father, the prison administration neglected and tried to hide the journalist's illness from his family and lawyers.
In January 2024, the US State Department confirmed that Lira died in custody in Ukraine.
Opposition-minded Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky stated that Lira was beaten to death in the investigative detention center of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv.