The Krishnas are Sent to A Cemetery

On April 11, 2008, the Hakimat of Almaty Province informed the directors of the Society for Krishna Consciousness that on Monday, April 14, the Society will receive a document that grants them a piece of land in the Iliysk District of Almaty Province, even though the Society has never consented to relocate to the Iliysk District.

On April 5, 2008, the directors of the Society for Krishna Consciousness examined the four plots of land that the authorities of the Iliysk District had offered to them. None of the offered plots was found to be fit for the purposes of the religious organization. All the plots fall into the category of so called "undesirable land." One of them is situated in a waterlogged gully, another one is a former hilly graveyard (for that reason the architectural department does not recommend landscaping in that area), the third plot is situated too far from the city, and the fourth one neighbors the actual cemetery. All the plots cannot be levelled and are unfit for housebuilding.

The directors of the Society for Krishna Consciousness lodged an official protest to the Provincial Hakim, Serik Umbetov, against the proposed plots in the Iliysk District.

The question of evicting the Religious Organization Society for Krishna Consciousness from their property was raised by the Hakim of Almaty Province at the meeting in Taldy Korgan on March 25, 2008.

The authorities gave one week to the directors of the Society for Krishna Consciousness for considering and accepting the proposal in regard to the relocation of the religious community to the land which does not actually meet the needs of the Society. If the Society did not accept these conditions, said the officers of GASK (the State Architectural and Construction Board), they would open a lawsuit to demolish the Krishna Society's existing temple and barn.

The legal prosecution against the Society initiated by the former authorities of the Karasai District has resulted in the demolition of 26 homes of the faithful who received no compensation. The Society's 116-acre farmland has been confiscated and returned to the Kazakh Government Land Reserve.