At the beginning of the afternoon Dulmers was arrested by three men. “They grabbed me while I was on the phone with a representative of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When I tried to wrestle myself free, one of them pressed a gun to my head. Another turned my hand behind my back,” says he to the newspaper.
Entry ban for ten years
At the police station, he was told that he had been declared persona non grata. The Dutchman was taken by car to the border with Moldova. There he got his papers back, with a stamp in his passport: ‘Entry denied to Ukraine until 2032, signed 2022.’
The journalist drove on to Romania in his own car. Dulmers hopes that the Ukrainian government can reverse the deportation.
‘Very worrisome’
ND editor-in-chief Sjirk Kuijper writes about the incident: “There is no evidence that Dulmers violated instructions or restrictions imposed by the army.” He calls it worrying that the journalist was treated in this way and that he was deported so quickly.
The Dutch Association of Journalists is also critical of the deportation. “It is very worrying that Robert has been chased out of the country under threat of a loaded gun,” said Thomas Bruning of the NVJ. “Ukraine wants to emulate countries in the West, but shows itself from its bad side.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells the newspaper that the authorities in Ukraine are being contacted about the matter.
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