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Comment by cahitonur | Hacker News Reader

You think life is a video game, don't you? There are some other geniuses suggesting the same useless solution. Let's say he did what you said. Do you think he will be able to build a life easily in another country as a refugee? Even opening a bank account will be a huge pain in the ass. The rest of his life will be ruined basically. And it seems he don't care about going to jail, he wants to keep his business running. Escaping the country will do the opposite.

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Are you seriously comparing the difficulty of opening a bank account to the difficulty of losing your freedom and liberty?

You know, people did live before banks..

The only reason you think that he doesn't care about going to jail is the fact that he's prioritizing his livelihood. You're conveniently missing the lines where he calls it a mob action. He clearly doesn't agree with the sentence.

Actually, I'm just focusing on the question. He is asking "how can I save my business" not his freedom. Let him think about his own freedom.

And when I compare a couple of years in prison to my whole life the answer is clear for me. Escaping the country brings the bonus that he will never be able to see his own country again. As an expat who is away from home for the last 4 years I can easily say that it sucks. Being away from home doesn't make you free.

I agree with your first part. Indeed, the question he posed was about his business, and to be concerned for his life, while important, is outside the scope of the question asked.

However, I don't agree with your second part. 4 years in prison isn't just 4 years in prison. It is 4 years in a situation that is widely out of your control, and opens you up to a host of threats that you didn't consider during your 'outside' life. Sure, you can be hit by a car and killed during normal pedestrian action, but it's quite hard to be the victim of prison violence when you're a normal citizen.

Imprisonment is terrible, don't sell it short. It is a completely different world than every day life, including that of an expat, and it very well may stay with him for the rest of life in the form of a crippling physical or mental injury or even death.

He runs a SaaS, not a hot-dog stand. The power of the internet is internationalism and non-locale.

I'm not telling prison is good! In the current situation there is nothing much to do for him. My point is being a refugee is almost same with being in an open air prison. I know because I live in that prison! And selling hotdogs can be less stressful for a refugee when you compare it to online business without a legal citizenship, passport, credit card etc. Power of the bureaucracy will crush power of the internet easily. Ask that to people living in some countries with limited internet.

>As an expat who is away from home for the last 4 years I can easily say that it sucks. ... >Being away from home doesn't make you free.

it seems like it depends on their your "home" is. I've been living in US for more than decade. Never looked back :)

that means you prefer to be an american not russian. however there are things independent from the "home" concept that puts you in trouble. and i'm not even talking about the food : )

It only keeps you bound if your "Country" is your identity.

But regarding the OP's question, he was not asking about how to keep his freedom, he was asking about how to save his business, which I believe as you do many here have failed to see.

Now, one has to ask themselves...how likely would it be for the OP to actually save his business by running away? The likelihood of him not having everything confiscated by the government and simply shut down upon his disappearance is rather low. As it sits right now he could loose it if he doesn't "give" it to another person to care for it.

Also, he most likely feels an obligation to his clients to maintain the service.

Taking the time to train a trusted friend or family member would most likely be his only real option in this case.

Good luck to OP!

Life isn't a game of "Prison Architect." I suspect prison sucks more than anything you could imagine in a video game. The poster's comment is useful to the OP, especially considering OP could be facing 10, 20, 30, or more years for his "infraction." We just don't know, so we can't assume that OP would prefer to remain in his country of origin.

I suspect that prison might suck even more in a country full of muslims, considering his 'crime' has religious grounds.

He's probably going to get worse treatment than average from the other inmates.

Are you serious? He runs an online business, if that is his source of income it can be managed anywhere.

If I had to choose between prison and becoming a refugee the answer should be obvious. All over the world, people flee similar situations everyday.

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