Simha Kaplan Wants to Return Home to Kiev
The beginning of the grief-stricken story of refugees from Ukraine:
Escaping from Ukraine… (ethnicmicrohistory.com)
Does the decree 64/2022 from 24.02.22 of the executive powers of the Republic of Ukraine prohibit male citizens of the Republic of Ukraine aged from 18 to 60 years of age leaving Ukraine? It seems, it does...
Is there the criminal penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for every citizen of the Republic of Ukraine, who fled Ukraine and wants to return home? They say, there is... Alas.
I am not the "insider" observer on the matters pertaining to the international politics and "politikin" of this part of the world. Last time I visited Ukraine was in winter 2013. I experienced the Carpathian fairy tales of nature, snowing, fresh air and alpine skiing instructions... Almost ten years before today. How unforgettably beautiful it was...
My knowledge about the situation in Ukraine is from the media and communicating with the people from Ukraine, many of whom I am very glad to call as my friends. And many of whom do long and wish very much to return home but can not... From five to ten years of prison is awaiting them... They cannot return to their Motherland, which they very dearly love. ...
Pondering over modulating and creating the refugees crisis and using it as the instrument of political bargaining, international tensions acceleration, one most likely would come to the conclusion, that creating the refugees crises is one of the most effective and complicated (to deal with) weapons of war.
My friend Simha, who is currently in the city of Safed, Israel with his elderly father Shimon, wants to return to his native Kiev. Simha had to take care about his dad, who is in his seventies and who does need constant support. In the unpredictably unrolling circumstances they were forced to cross on foot the border between the Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. As I wrote earlier theirs group was fired at by the unknown assailants...
And why I used the word "forced" just a few words above? And why it is very important to ask the question: what is going on in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ukraine? Because!..
Because one does hear very many very similar stories from the absolutely different people. Because many people from Ukraine wanted to escape the unrolling unpredictable chaos. And like Shimon and Simha were offered, most likely in a very friendly manner, the possibility to do so. People, like Shimon and Simha, undoubtedly, were not suspecting anything. They thought, that with the bus they would arrive to the border check point, the stamp would seal their passports and with the same bus, or a car they would proceed further into the lands of neutrality.
But most unexpected and treacherous things started happening. The drivers would be stopping their vehicles, ordering the passengers, to get into other cars, buses... And not once, but many times repeatedly. Till the transportation vehicle (bus, car, truck) would arrive to the location somewhere near the forest, or a meadow and in the February, March cold weather, standing deep in snow with the heavy luggage people, would be again and again ordered in the imperative voice (or simply "recommended", hinted): "The border is there! Go! Go!!!" Many groups like that were, reportedly, fired at. People, reportedly, got wounded.
No border crossing, no check points with the stamps in the passports... Simple and sheer human trafficking like attitudes.
How on earth such crimes can take place without knowledge, approval and the instigation by the authorities?
Also the stories are being heard, that some of the groups like that were stopped by the Ukrainian border police. And the border police did treat people in a decent manner. But according to the law, border police must deliver people to the ministry of the interior of the Republic of Ukraine. And as soon as people were appearing in the criminal "jurisdiction" of police, the beatings and extrajudicial criminal attitudes were commencing...
Simha had to support his father... What is he might being accused of??? That he loves his father, his city Kiev, his country? That he, like thousands and thousands of other people does want to return home?
And also very important factor to consider, if something would happen to Shimon, who in his seventies, or to Simha what kind of medical care, or attention they would receive? For example, one family fleeing the turmoil finally reached the city of Uzgorod on the border with the Check Republic. The granma suffered a shrapnel wound and was placed for treatment into Uzgorod hospital. The whole family was waiting for their grandmother. But this "hospital" and the "doctors", reportedly refused to release the elderly woman from the surgery ward till the hefty lump sum in cash (reportedly, not one thousand USD) was paid... How to call those practices by the "doctors" in Ukraine? Is it marauding, or not? Are there reasons to disbelieve this story, like many others similar ones?
Another story, from the New Year 2020 - 2021... Long before February 24th, 2022. Female in her seventies, invalid of the first group in the city of Kharkiv, was abandoned by the care and medical personnel. And the ambulance basically extorted money from the penniless woman in her seventies for making Xray pictures... Prior to this, reportedly, on numerous occasions the medical assistance was not provided to this elderly woman. Do they sell ink cartridges to the patients in need of urgent help???
And how such corrupt attitudes can be taking place without tacit, or pronounced consent of the authorities?..
So... how anybody in the right mind can trust the ministry of health of Ukraine with the health of the family members, with their own health?
Simha Kaplan made the right and the only possible decision.
It looks, that the executive and legislative authorities in Ukraine do attempt to accelerate and exacerbate the refugees crisis in the direction west. This "law" of "5 - 10 years imprisonment" must be abolished. It does criminalize, marginalize and ostracize thousands and thousands of people, who love their country, the Republic of Ukraine and do want to return home, as soon as possible...
...An elderly woman passed away in her apartment in Khakhiv, Ukraine. For sixteen days "police" refused to evacuate the dead body. For sixteen days police was extorting money from the destitute penniless neighbours. Finally, the sum of money was collected and "police" collected the corps and theirs bribe. Is it a fake story? Is it another lie?.. Probably, not.
...But what about crossing the border by train before 2014 from Ukraine into Russia...
Simha Kaplan wants to return home to Kiev and not be gobbled up by the corruption of the police. Please, help Simha!
Sincerely Yours,
Pinkhas Frizen
P.S.
A draft law on the mandatory return to Ukraine of men abroad during martial law has been registered in Ukrainian parliament, which, among other things, implies the introduction of criminal liability for those who did not return to Ukraine after the declaration of martial law.
The explanatory note to the draft law No. 7265 “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine On the Legal Regime of Martial Law to establish liability for failure to comply with the requirements of the law on return to Ukraine after the introduction of martial law in Ukraine or in its individual areas” notes that the changes proposed by the authors are aimed at ensuring the full functioning of the defence forces of Ukraine, state authorities and local governments under martial law.
“The draft law proposes to introduce a new article into the law of Ukraine On the legal regime of martial law regarding the obligation of persons who, according to the law, are subject to conscription for military service during mobilization, as well as members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, heads of state authorities and their deputies, MPs Ukraine, village, city heads, law enforcement officers of Ukraine, judges, judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, prosecutors who are outside Ukraine, in the event of the introduction of martial law in Ukraine or in its individual areas, in the absence of good reasons to return to Ukraine,” the note says.
The bill also proposes to introduce a new article into the Criminal Code of Ukraine, establishing the criminal liability of citizens of Ukraine for failure to comply with the requirements of this law in the form of imprisonment for a term of five to ten years.