Pablo González Yagüe, recently turned 40, has lost weight and has been discouraged lately.
The Spanish journalist, collaborator of
Público
and La Sexta, has been imprisoned and incommunicado in a Polish prison for 184 days, since he was detained in a hotel in Przemyśl [a city a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border], on the night of February 27-28, “on suspicion ” to spy for Russia.
On August 23, he learned that his pre-trial detention had been extended for another three months.
Another three months in solitude for 23 hours a day in a windowless cell in the high-security module of Radom prison, about 70 kilometers from Warsaw, with only an hour to walk in a courtyard of seven by four meters.
His partner, Oihana Goiriena, knows all this from the five letters she has received from Pablo since he has been in detention, where he has been able to read between the lines, especially in the last two, that he "is discouraged."
The journalist, resident in Gernika (Bizkaia) and with dual Spanish and Russian nationality, was arrested by the Polish authorities, who have accused him of having carried out "operations for the benefit of Russia, benefiting from his status as a journalist", as explained the Government of Warsaw three days after the arrest, which occurred while he was in Poland covering the refugee crisis after the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Little else does the family know.
"We have not been able to visit it and there is always some impediment," says Goiriena.
The same is said by his Spanish lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, who complains about the "huge amount of documentation" that Poland requests for any procedure related to the prisoner.
"They have even asked for the family book translated into Polish."
They can't even call him on the phone.
Poland assures that Pablo González, with three children, uses the names of Aleksey Rutsov or Pavel Rubtsov as "aliases", as it appears in the original arrest warrant.
But those, indeed, are the names he was given at birth: Pavel Alekseevich Rubtsov.
He was born in 1982 in Moscow, as he is the grandson of a “war child”, minors transferred to Russia during the Spanish Civil War.
"That is why he has dual nationality and two passports and has been registered with both names in the Vizcaya Civil Registry since 1991, by virtue of the divorce decree of his parents," says Boye.
When he was arrested he was carrying a Spanish and a Russian passport, each with his respective name on it, which is why both were considered false by the Polish police.
The prisoner's father, Aleksiej, still resides in Moscow.
In fact, he sends her 350 euros per month by transfer, which has been considered by the Polish authorities as proof that he is at the service of Russia.
"The father, sends us that money for the rent of some flats of the grandmother in the Russian capital to lend us a hand, because my husband is self-employed and
freelance,
and sometimes the work does not give him," says Goiriena, a resident of Gernika (Bizkaia).
The family frequently travels to Russia
The receipts for these transfers, which the detainee's sister also receives, have been put forward as evidence before the new Polish lawyer who assists the journalist.
Both the family and Boye demand greater involvement from the Spanish Government, and even want to take the case to the UN Arbitrary Detention Group "and even ask the Red Cross to treat him as a prisoner of war," says Boye.
Neither he nor Pablo's partner have any complaints about the consul, Eduardo Merino de Mena.
On the contrary.
The Embassy of Spain in Warsaw assures that it is doing "the appropriate follow-up" since it learned of the case, and explains that Pablo González has been visited by the consul on four occasions, the first on March 7 and the last on July 21, according to Foreign Affairs.
During these visits to the prison, the journalist was recommended to hire a local lawyer (“and he did so”, the Diplomatic Information Office has assured), while at the same time “emphasizing to the Polish authorities the need to respect their rights”.
More information
Poland accuses a Spanish journalist detained near the border with Ukraine of espionage
Boye assures that the Government of Spain "has done nothing" to help the journalist.
In fact, they complain that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, hardly dedicated any time to the matter during his visit to Poland last June, when he said that he was left at the expense of the country's courts.
They are also not satisfied with the lawyer hired in Poland.
"He tells a lot about how he is physically, but he tells little about the cause," he explains.
Yes, he is very grateful to Consul Merino de Mena.
"The man has behaved humanely: he has visited him four times and has told us how he is," he explains.
And how is him?
They know this, above all, from the five letters that the prisoner has sent to his family.
The first arrived on May 31.
“At first he was upbeat, optimistic.
Keep in mind that they are letters to be read to children and the tone is positive”, says Oihana.
The last two arrived in mid-June, between the 15th and the 19th, after knowing the first extension of the prison and solitary confinement for another three months (the one now is the third extension).
"I know he wrote them back to back and the tone ... between the lines I see he's bummed out," he adds.
The letters recount the situation of extreme seclusion, in which he barely leaves his cell, with an "opaque window", to walk through a courtyard with 7x4 meter high walls.
The detainee has received a letter from his wife.
He now knows that he is not alone, that he has support.
He is thin (20 kilos less), downcast, but firm in defending his innocence and sure that he has the support of his family.
"And when you're incommunicado and alone, believe me, that's a lot," says Boye.
Pablo González knows that he will have sequels.
He has written to his wife with a touch of irony: "I will have to learn to walk in a straight line again."
Journalist Pablo González has been in preventive detention for 6 months despite the "lack of evidence."
According to the pdt.
FAPE, the extension of his preventive detention and the lack of legal arguments for his arrest are an affront to freedom of expression https://t.co/U8JuIVvnAQ pic.twitter.com/Db8MOEfFzs
— FAPE (@fape_fape) August 29, 2022
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