“Creepy hoarder hoarder”: the Russian-speaking diaspora of Thailand was outraged by the prison conditions of the “Bi-2” musicians

Thai authorities fined seven members of the Bi-2 group, detained for performing on the island of Phuket without a work permit in Thailand, 3 thousand baht (approximately 7,500 rubles), they have already paid it and are now awaiting a deportation flight in Bangkok. The Russian-speaking diaspora is frightened by the “vile precedent,” but we are not talking about a fine.

According to the Russian Consulate General, of those detained on January 24, seven citizens belonged to a musical group that arrived illegally on tour (without a work permit – a work permit required for foreigners under Thai law. – Auto.) – five are Russians, and two more arrived with passports from Israel (Leva – Yegor Bortnik, included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation) and Australia (Shura – Alexander Uman). All seven were fined $84 by a Phuket court last Friday, after which they will await deportation from the country in a special “storage facility” in the capital of the kingdom. Bortnik and Uman will go to Tel Aviv and Sydney, respectively, while the rest are expected in Moscow. And some with particular impatience: social activists from the organization “Veterans of Russia” demand that the Russian part of the team be detained right at the airport “to initiate a criminal case against them for supporting terrorism.”

The musicians themselves contacted the organizers of their tours in Pattaya and Phuket and reported that they had paid the fines. And fans in Phuket, who lost money on pre-purchased tickets, when asked why it was impossible to issue “this unfortunate work permit,” were told that they had the necessary documents, “they were simply issued incorrectly.”

The Thai side, however, claims that the Russian guest performers simply did not care about local laws. The Phuket Immigration Office says the detainees have already been “transported to the Royal Thai Police Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Bangkok,” where foreign offenders from all over the kingdom are taken for eventual deportation to their country of citizenship.” And at the same time, they reminded us for the thousandth time that “in Thailand, foreigners are prohibited from working without a work permit.”

– What the local “immigration girl” beautifully calls “The Royal Thai Police Immigration Bureau Temporary Detention Center in Bangkok” is actually “IDC.” Auto.) – a terrible homeless hoarder for those who do not have money for their own deportation, – Denis, a 28-year-old relocant from the Bryansk region, is horrified. “There are all sorts of Afro-Arabs and refugees lying side by side on the floor in unsanitary conditions, waiting for days to be loaded somewhere.

The Phuket immigration department admits that IDC is the very place where foreign “illegal immigrants” who were engaged in illegal labor activities in the kingdom are kept awaiting deportation.

– Do you propose to put them up in a hotel? – they ask a counter question in the “immigration game”. “We transported them at our own expense anyway.” There are no direct flights to Tel Aviv and Sydney; connections must be selected. And Russian planes are all filled with law-abiding tourists.

– If Bitushniks are deported through IDC, this is very bad! – Marina, a relocant from Moscow, is sure, in a past life she was the concert director of one of the Russian stars. – This means 100% blacklist (blacklist for entry. – Auto.), not to mention the fact that they will be freaked out by the conditions there. As if they hadn’t become infected with some nasty thing!

But the most important component of the “vile incident,” according to the Russian-speaking crowd in Phuket, is not even the terrible “ID” with a blacklist to boot, but the fact that Russian “bloodthirsty social activists” have now found out about the guys. And the fact that the “knock” in Tai, which, however, the authorities warned the guests about, is working better and better.

“In fact, everyone needs that same “work permit,” including even the organizers of webinars or some business lunches that our “small businessmen” like to organize in Thailand,” says lawyer Alexey, who moved to Phuket long before the geopolitical unrest and living in the country for 12 years. – If this is a breakfast where they talk about some kind of commercial project, then a work permit is necessary for both the customers, the speakers, and those providing the premises. Moreover, even if payment for a product or service goes to a Russian card, Thai law considers this as “work on the territory of Thailand”, since the service is provided or the product is sold on their territory. It’s just that earlier the police, let’s say, turned a blind eye to this. But before the New Year, she warned that in the new year she would open them wide, wide, since the guests did not understand in an amicable way. And she kept her word. Now every signal from the population, no matter local or tourist, receives an immediate response. Illegal work is punishable by a fine of up to 100 thousand baht and deportation with entry into the “blacklist” for entry for 10 years. So the bitushniks got off cheap here, which, apparently, cannot be promised to them at home.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29205 dated January 30, 2024

Newspaper headline:
Small fine, but expensive