The Red Cross is checking penal colonies in Russia in search of Spaniard Mariano García Calatayud, whom the occupiers kidnapped in Kherson at the start of the occupation in March 2022. Russia has still not confirmed that he is in captivity.
This is reported in an article by the Media Initiative for Human Rights.
According to the kidnapped man’s wife, Tetyana Maryna, Spain tried to negotiate an exchange of Mario for a Russian prisoner, but the occupiers refused such terms.
Despite the searches, the man’s whereabouts remain unknown. His family fears that captivity may have seriously affected Mariano’s health.
Recall that for over a year Mariano Calatayud was held in pre-trial detention centers No. 1 and No. 2 in occupied Simferopol, where he suffered a heart attack. In December 2023 the Russian military prosecutor’s office reported that he had been taken out of Crimea toward Kherson region; since then there has been no information about his whereabouts or condition.
In Spain Calatayud worked at the town hall of a town in Valencia, where he was responsible for road construction. After the start of the Russian aggression in 2014 he retired early and moved to Ukraine, where he helped Ukrainians with humanitarian assistance and taught Spanish in Kherson.