The occupation authorities have admitted to holding Mr. Mariano García Calatayud, a Spanish volunteer known also as MARIO, who disappeared in Kherson when the full-scale invasion started.
According to documents that the CHRG possesses, responding to the information request, the ‘Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Black Sea Navy’ reported that Mariano García Calatayud, a Spanish national, “had been moved by the Crimean FSB to the institution of the criminal-executive system, where he has been held until now. He is still being checked.”
It was also stated in the reply that “no violations of the detention conditions have been revealed”. The ‘prosecutor’s office’ rejected providing any other information referring to the ‘national security information”.
Mr. Mariano García Calatayud is a Spanish citizen who has been living in Ukraine for eight years and is engaged in volunteer activities. When the full-scale invasion started, he was acting in Kherson, helping children left without parental care, and attending anti-occupation rallies. According to the his fiancée, he was abducted on March 19, 2022, and is currently held in Pre-Trial Detention Centre (SIZO) no 2 in Simferopol.
Until this time, official responses of ‘Federal Penitentiary Service’ (FSIN) and SIZO no 2 stated that Mr. Mariano García Calatayud had not been detained since March 19, 2022, and was not being detained. In addition, the ‘Investigative Committee’ of Crimea also claimed that it had no information on the thereabouts of the Spanish national.
