There are still no declarations in Belarusian in custom-houses
There aren’t, even in spite of the fact that customs officers admitted their fault and informed that there were no more problems. “I think they will suggest it to me so that I could fill it in. It is because they no longer make me fill in declarations at all now”, - says a Homel dweller Syahei Syamyonau who is risking to get a fine for refusing to fill in declarations printed in Russian.
Syarhei was already fined for almost one million BRB for the same reason. Nobody cancelled that fine despite the fact that the Constitutional Court ordered officials to respect the state language. Nobody said sorry. According to Syarhei, he is not going to pay the fine:
“I haven’t paid it and I’m not going to”.
At the same time the deputy head of the administration of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Uladzimir Pehtserau claimed in his interview given to Radio Liberty that all custom-houses were provided with Belarusian declarations.
Syarhei Syamenaг crossed the Ukrainian border two days ago. According to him, there were no Belarusian declarations there. They allow Syarheoi Syamyonau cross the border without filling in declarations because there are no Belarusian declarations at custom-houses.
ERB decided to find out whether there were Belarusian declarations at other check-points. The “Warsaw Bridge” check-point offers declarations in Polish, Russian, English, German and even Italian but you cannot fill in a declaration in Belarusian. We decided to feign a situation similar to Syarhei Syamyonau’s and pretended to be a person who could not speak Russian. Surprisingly, customs officers answered us in good Belarusian and promised to help:
-Will I be able to fill in my declaration in Belarusian when going to Warsaw through your check-point? I heard people were fined for demanding Belarusian forms at some other check-points. Do you have such forms?
-Forms? No, we do not have them yet. But we are planning to. We have not received them yet.
-The problem is I’m very bad at Russian…
-Don’t you speak Russian?
-Well… not really. I can speak it but I’m rather bad at it. In what other languages can I fill in declarations?
-In Polish, Italian, German and English.
-When are you planning to receive Belarusian declarations?
-I cannot give you the answer. I haven’t seen them at our check-point yet. The samples have already been translated into Belarusian but we do not have Belarusian forms.
-So can I be given a Belarusian sample?
-Sure! As you do not speak Russian you will be given Belarusian samples and we will help you. Our officers can speak both Russian and Belarusian! We will help you!
-Thank you very much. So can I travel without any problems?
-Of course you can, don’t worry, travel and we will help you whenever you need it. We will give you a declaration and explain how it should be filled in.
Photo by — www.zonasezona.ru
Syarhei was already fined for almost one million BRB for the same reason. Nobody cancelled that fine despite the fact that the Constitutional Court ordered officials to respect the state language. Nobody said sorry. According to Syarhei, he is not going to pay the fine:
“I haven’t paid it and I’m not going to”.
At the same time the deputy head of the administration of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Uladzimir Pehtserau claimed in his interview given to Radio Liberty that all custom-houses were provided with Belarusian declarations.
Syarhei Syamenaг crossed the Ukrainian border two days ago. According to him, there were no Belarusian declarations there. They allow Syarheoi Syamyonau cross the border without filling in declarations because there are no Belarusian declarations at custom-houses.
ERB decided to find out whether there were Belarusian declarations at other check-points. The “Warsaw Bridge” check-point offers declarations in Polish, Russian, English, German and even Italian but you cannot fill in a declaration in Belarusian. We decided to feign a situation similar to Syarhei Syamyonau’s and pretended to be a person who could not speak Russian. Surprisingly, customs officers answered us in good Belarusian and promised to help:
-Will I be able to fill in my declaration in Belarusian when going to Warsaw through your check-point? I heard people were fined for demanding Belarusian forms at some other check-points. Do you have such forms?
-Forms? No, we do not have them yet. But we are planning to. We have not received them yet.
-The problem is I’m very bad at Russian…
-Don’t you speak Russian?
-Well… not really. I can speak it but I’m rather bad at it. In what other languages can I fill in declarations?
-In Polish, Italian, German and English.
-When are you planning to receive Belarusian declarations?
-I cannot give you the answer. I haven’t seen them at our check-point yet. The samples have already been translated into Belarusian but we do not have Belarusian forms.
-So can I be given a Belarusian sample?
-Sure! As you do not speak Russian you will be given Belarusian samples and we will help you. Our officers can speak both Russian and Belarusian! We will help you!
-Thank you very much. So can I travel without any problems?
-Of course you can, don’t worry, travel and we will help you whenever you need it. We will give you a declaration and explain how it should be filled in.
Photo by — www.zonasezona.ru
