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New ‘Escapists’ Appeared in Belarus?

New ‘Escapists’ Appeared in Belarus?

Scandalous cases are multiplying.

Charter97.org reported about a family from Vitebsk which was denied PP passport series of the Republic of Belarus necessary to repatriate to Israel. The "reason" is that the 15-year-old son of Siarhei Matulin is registered as liable for military service.

A few days ago, a reader addressed the editorial office and told a similar story. He asked not to be named:

- Your website published an article about a man from Vitsebsk who made a passport to go to Israel with his children. The military registration and enlistment office refused to issue a certificate for his 15-year-old son, who is already registered for military service.

So, we faced the same situation. On August 10, a new law on deferments came into force, and since August we have faced problems. As a result, the military registration and enlistment office refused to provide us with a certificate to get a passport of the PP series.

Their arguments are rather weird: the boy must return and serve. Our arguments that by his 18th birthday he would likely be a citizen of another country had no effect. They said they did not care.

This year the son has received a certificate and has been registered as a draft-age person. Before that, we had warned the military registration and enlistment office that we were undergoing a consular inspection to leave for permanent residence to Israel. Before the law on "deferments" was adopted, they told us not to worry and they would remove us from the registration.

But since August, everything has changed drastically. In general, we were going to go to Israel this year. We had everything ready and planned. We only need passports of the PP series.

- Why is it so important to get this type of passport?

- Israel has a law on repatriation. According to it, a repatriate receives not only financial assistance but also other opportunities: a low income tax rate for the first time, a voucher for six months to learn the language. It let to join society.

If you do not have a PP passport, you enter as a tourist, not as a repatriate. But the right to repatriation comes from the origin, and the military registration and enlistment office deprives us of it on absolutely unknown grounds.

- And how did the military registration and enlistment office officially justify its refusal to issue documents?

- First of all, we received a call from the Internal Affairs Department and were told that your son had an official refusal from the military registration and enlistment office. We haven't seen this refusal yet. This complicates the formulation of legally grounded claims to the authorities.

I learned this new law on deferments. It says that it came into force on August 10. The permission for the repatriation was approved in May when such a law had not yet existed.

I managed to talk to the military commissioner of our district and it turned out that they had their own, internal document, which regulated the granting of deferments. Besides, he said that they were subject to inspections for "conscripts" not to disappear. This is carried out by some "internal service", which also monitors permits for PP passport series.

You see, my son will be a citizen of another country when he is 18. Therefore, my son is not going to avoid military service. I consider the position of the military registration and enlistment office at least irrational.

This is a very strange, if not cunning position. That is, families are not directly separated, but we can't leave on the same grounds. This is the scheme of bandits. It's a vicious circle.

My wife and I can get PP passport series, but it means that we have to leave the apartment in Belarus. No one will unregister us, because we have minor children registered there, who are not given a PP passport series. This is how people who have the right to immigrate to Israel fall into a trap.

The same "Raukou's Law" does not tell what to do in such a situation, when the whole family wants to go abroad for permanent residence. The military registration and enlistment office acts based on its interpretation of the law. And it is very strange. It is one thing when a conscript at the age of 18 asks for a PP passport series and when the whole family with a 15-year-old boy leaves and there is a decision of the consul of another country about repatriation.

Although I believe that an 18-year-old conscript should not serve in the existing army...

- Why?

- Do you remember Aliaksandr Korzhych? Anyone understands that this is a crime. A soldier was killed. What kind of suicide can it be? How could he hang himself with tied hands and T-shirt on his head?

Even an ordinary person understands what happened. There were such cases before and after Korzhych. This is an army that does not fight in a country that has no armed conflicts, but soldiers die. This is not an army, but some kind of a show...

And it concerns not only the army but the entire system of government. I was shocked by how many people wanted to go to same Israel... This is how citizens assess the activities of this government.

- Will you fight for your right to immigrate?

- Yes, I intend to continue this fight. You know, I can go to the Square, if needed. I graduated from the university when this one, I apologize, "moustached" came to power. All my active life have passed under the reign of this strange man.

Now I have only one thought that this power is not power at all. They are some bandits. We have to fight them.

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