Demolition of the Krishnas' houses in Almaty province renders a blow on the image of Kazakhstan - says human rights activist

The authorities of the Karasai district, Almaty province, render a blow on the image of Kazakhstan by demolishing the houses and buildings of the Krishnas. This opinion was expressed today at a press conference in Almaty by the director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Evgeniy Zhovtis.

"These days our Karasai district hakim is a person not only untouchable, but he is uncontrolled by anybody. He acts with absolute independence. He is not concerned with the image of Kazakhstan, and we have not experienced such a blow on the image of the nation as the situation around the Society for Krishna Consciousness for a long time," said E. Zhovtis. "The rights of religious minorities is a very sensitive sphere, and today Kazakhstan accurately, throughout the year, undermines everything that its propaganda of inter-religious tolerance has created," the human rights activist added.

E. Zhovtis disagrees with the statements of the Religious Affairs Committee's representatives that the conflict does not have "a religious element." "We can clearly see the distinction: only the houses of the Krishnas are being destroyed. Nobody goes and destroys the homes of the other people whose documents are absolutely the same," he explained.

The president of the religious organization Society for Krishna Consciousness, Galina Golous, showed the journalists a plan of the summer colony to confirm the words of E. Zhovtis. "All the land plots of the Krishnas are marked on this plan, and special notes show how many plots have already been confiscated and how many should be confiscated," she explained.

E. Zhovtis, who is also a member of the commission for resolving this conflict, asserts that the authorities make no attempts to settle it.
"The ownership of this land was not so seriously illegal, we have laws of amnesty, of legalization, and we can see how houses constructed or acquired by even more illegal means are legalized," he said, "I believe that the conflict is based on a desire to take away the land, considering our economical development and the growing land value," he added.

Human rights activists and the community members are worried that the district authorities may also demolish the Krishna temple in the nearest future. "The situation has actually come to a standstill, nobody wants it to be resolved. The next step will probably be a bulldozer that will destroy the temple, and at that point all the conceptions of Kazakhstan as a civilized nation will vanish," concluded E. Zhovtis.

Let us remind you that the conflict around the Krishna community has been going on since 2004. In November of 2006 the local authorities demolished 14 houses of the faithful in the community. On June 15, 2007, another 12 houses were demolished.

The original article (in Russian) can be found here.