The Spanish retiree kidnapped by Putin’s troops who tries to free his girlfriend: “I don’t know if it’s alive”

On March 19, three years will be completed since the Russian military forces were taken without any explanation to Mariano García Calatayuda 76 -year -old Valencian retiree of the heart, after a protest against the invasion of Vladimir Putin to Ukraine. Since then, despite the Russian thunderous silence and the diplomatic bridges detonated among the three countries involved, Mario – as they know him in Jersón – has suffered part of the captivity in a Simferopol gulag, in Crimea, where other liberated inmates reported having witnessed the torture he suffered, from electric shocks to dog bites.

In September 2023, the jail under Russian domain certified that Mariano was not part of the prison community and the authorities denied any information about their fate and whereabouts. In December of the same year, the lawyer hired by the family received a letter from the Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Black Sea fleet in which he communicated that he had left Crimea and returned to Jersón, where no one has seen it. In fact, His environment believes that he is still imprisoned In some penitentiary center of the Russian territory, if not it is already dead.

The person who has fought for him most and who continues to get up every day with the sole objective of seeing him again is his girlfriend. Tatiana Marinaa 42 -year -old Ukrainian, who fell in love with Mariano, despite the difference in age, for his “humanitarian heart” and his love for the country he received after emigrating from Spain. Three years later, the last person who saw him alive before being arrested, recounts in the first person to ABC His sensations, his feelings, his desires and his complaints about diplomatic performance by the governments of Spain and Ukraine.

When was the last time you saw Mario?

The last time I saw him was the same day the Russians kidnapped it, on March 19, 2022, three years ago.

Do you think he’s alive?

I think Mario is alive, although time runs against him. Every day under Russian captivity is very hard and is very bad of health.

Three years of their disappearance are now turned. Why do you think it has not been included in an exchange of prisoners?

The governments of Spain and Ukraine have made few efforts to free Mario. Ukraine has a big problem with the return of the civil hostages of Russian captivity, since they usually ignore their requests. In addition, we must not forget the stubbornness of Russia, who may want to use Mario for his own purposes, recruit him as a spy or use it with propaganda ends.

Do you think institutional pressure has lacked?

From the beginning Spain pressed little to Russia. Even when Mario’s lawyer obtained documentary evidence that he was captured by the Russians, Spain did not send his consul. Under the threat of arrest, a Russian lawyer named Anatoly F Coursev went to Simferopol and tried to enter the prison. Of course, if I had had the support of the Spanish consul, there would have been more chances of success.

So you discard that you are dead?

No, of course there is the sad option that the Russians killed Mario in captivity and now with their silence they simply try to hide their war crime, but there is still no evidence of this, so I prefer to maintain faith in thinking that it is still alive.

Were you with him when they stopped him? How did you find out that they had arrested him in a demonstration?

I do not know who reported that Mario was imprisoned by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in a rally, since the Russians took him at the door of our house.

How was it?

After the protest he did not return immediately, since he had business in the city. When he came home he called me to open him, I left, he was no longer and his mobile did not give tone. I was the first person to discover that something bad had happened to him and there were no witnesses to the crime. Without people who see him and without Russian confirmation, Spain believed that kidnapping was a confirmed rumor and maybe that his actions were so soft at the beginning.

How did you meet?

Our first encounter was very romantic. I helped Mario recharge the mobile phone and invited me to celebrate his birthday with him. He showed me his volunteer work, he told me everything he did in Ukraine. He was irresistible that day, any woman would have fallen in love with him without looking back.

Do you think he would return to Spain to be released?

I think if Mario will return to Spain for a while. His health after captivity was severely undermined, but I am sure that if he feels the same force he will not be able to live happy there and will try to return to Ukraine to continue helping. But what I want is really as possible from any military conflict. He gave humanitarian aid to Ukraine for 8 years and survived the Russian kidnapping for three years, that is too much for anyone.

⁠ Do you have contact with your children?

Yes, I am in contact with your family through Facebook. They are wonderful people without exception and fight together for him.

How was Mario’s life in Jersón?

We led a wonderful life. Here he discovered that his vocation was the volunteer and got many friends. During the War Statillo, he considered that his duty was to count all the horrors committed by the Russian occupants in first person.

How do you value the performance of the Spanish government?

I think it’s doing everything right now, but it’s too late. The most effective actions should have been taken in 2022, when it was necessary to press the Russians and actively cooperate with the Ukrainian part. In Ukraine a mechanism for the return of war prisoners had already been developed. If Spain and Ukraine had then joined, the minimum result of their efforts would have been the lifting of the informative blockade around Mario and perhaps his freedom would have been achieved. Spain has waited too much to obtain written evidence and during this time, Russia developed tactics to hide its war crimes.

Mario suffers from heart problems and Russian prisons are very hard. What have your cellmates told you?

The last time I talked to a witness who saw Mario was in April 2023. I don’t know what medications they give him in jail, but they are trying his heart disease. His cell companions told us that they did not let him sit all day, they did not give him clothes to warm and had to shower with cold water, in addition the guards hit him as the rest of the inmates, despite his age.

What would you say if you saw him again?

I have thought hundreds of times what I would tell you if they released it and every time I find new words. I will cry, I will hug him and tell him that he is a hero for Ukraine and for me. I will tell you how I waited every day to release it and ask you to go home, where your family awaits you.