Spanish diplomatic services reported on Friday that 75-year-old volunteer Mariano Garcia was abducted by the Russians and placed in one of the prisons in Crimea at the beginning of the Russian invasion in March 2022.
75-year-old Spanish volunteer Mariano Garcia who has been helping in the territory since 2014 Ukraine as a volunteer of a humanitarian organization, he was abducted by the Russians during the Russian invasion in March 2022 and placed in one of the prisons in the Crimea, Spanish diplomatic services reported on Friday.
They specified the embassy Spain in Kiev only after more than a year war in Ukraine received confirmation from the authorities of the Russian Federation that Garcia is among the detainees in the Crimea.
Spanish Embassy in KievYURI KOCHETKOV/PAP/EPA
The information from the Russian authorities is the first official confirmation of the fate of the Spanish volunteer who was detained on March 19, 2022 in Kherson, southern Ukraine, and then taken by Russian troops to the Crimea.
Spanish activist accused of ‘hostile actions’
In a letter addressed to the Spanish authorities, the Russian military prosecutor’s office wrote that Mariano Garcia was considered a “foreign agent” and for this reason he was placed in one of the prisons in Sevastopol.
The Russian side wrote that the Spanish citizen was supposed to “undertake actions hostile to the Russian Federation” during the so-called “special operation”, i.e. war, in Ukraine.
Mariano Garcia, 75, went to Ukraine on a civilian relief mission in 2014, shortly after his transition to retirement. Previously, he worked as a clerk in the municipality of Carlet in eastern Spain.
Main photo source: Sergei Malgavko / TASS / Forum