Deportation for at least six months from the “paradise island” of Bali, as well as a fine in the form of payment for “rites of purification” threatens a Russian tourist for nude photos on a sacred tree. Tourists are warned just in case: they take their holy places on the island more than seriously and you can seriously pay for insulting the feelings of believers.
The victim was a Russian yoga instructor Alina Fazleeva. She and her husband are threatened with deportation for pictures taken in 2019 on the Instagram social network (recognized as an extremist organization in Russia). In the pictures, a tourist poses in the nude on a 700-year-old “weeping tree” sacred to Balinese Hindus in a temple in Babakan. In the text accompanying the photo, the girl wrote that in the process of shooting, hugging a tree, she “heard the voices of her ancestors”, “was part of an endless chain”, etc.
However, the Balinese politician Nilu Gelantika, and, according to his complaint, the Hindu clerics were only outraged by such statements and photos – they turned to the police. As a result, the tourist first apologized for her act on social networks, then she herself surrendered to law enforcement officers. They did not file charges, but they transferred the case to the migration service – and she reacted harshly.
According to the head of the migration department of Bali, Jamaruli Manihuruk, the tourist herself and her husband “committed actions that threatened public order and did not comply with local rules.” For this, they plan to be deported from Indonesia for at least six months. Also, tourists had to undergo a purification ceremony – i.e. on your knees to apologize to the tree – and, by the way, pay for the ceremony.
It should be noted that this is not the only harsh comment. The attendant of the Babakan sanctuary stated that the tourist must pay the full cost of the necessary purification ceremony. In addition, he stated that the rules for visiting the sanctuary will be tightened. The governor of Bali also issued a warning to tourists – he stressed that “disrespect for the local culture” from tourists will not be tolerated.
Note that the Russian tourist is not the first in a series of scandals and deportations with tourists that have occurred in Bali recently time. Here are a few cases.
- Most recently, at the end of April, the “brother in mind” of our tourist, a tourist from Canada, was sentenced to deportation, who danced naked on the sacred Mount Batur in Bali, also posting a video on Instagram. The immigration service found out about the tourist's trick and put him on the wanted list. The tourist, who has been living on the island since 2019, apologized for his actions. However, he is still awaiting deportation, and the Canadian will also be blacklisted, prohibiting him from entering the island in the future. (Read the details here)
- The sacred places of Indonesia seem to provoke fans of provocative videos and “strawberries”. The most scandalous of the situations happened more than a year ago – then the island's police “figured out” a Russian tourist and her companion who filmed a frank porn video on the sacred mountain of the island. The video was published under the nickname Minanika69 on a world-famous porn platform. The police assumed that Russian tourists participated in the video, the video was attributed to a 21-year-old model named Veronica. Filming also took place on the sacred Mount Batur. Violators were then threatened with almost three years in prison “for public indecency.” (The TURPROM article about this scandalous story is here).
- But not only insulting the feelings of believers and public morality became a reason for deportation. In July 2021, a Russian tourist and 3 other foreign tourists were expelled from Bali for “violating medical safety protocols amid the devastating wave of coronavirus diseases and deaths” or simply for not wearing a mask. Read the details at the link.
- Note that tourists who violate the mask regime in Bali were treated “creatively” during the pandemic hysteria. Instead of taking a fine from them, tourists were forced to do push-ups. Videos with “fell – wrung out”, performed by tourists under the control of police officers, flooded social networks. How it was – read the link.
For those who care about a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “Russians warned what regular hot baths can lead to.”