Court hearings regarding demolition of the only Hare Krishna temple in Kazakhstan continue

Hearings of the case about demolition of the only Hare Krishna temple in Kazakhstan continue

At the session that took place on November 17, 2008, the Karasai district court found that the buildings of the Society for Krisna Consciousness had been constructed and  passed commissioning lawfully.

The plaintiff, Hakim of the Karasai district, did not present any documents to support the prosecution case both this time and at the previous hearings.

The Karasai district hakim demands in his plaint that the buildings of the Society for Krishna Consciousness should be declared illegal and therefore demolished.

However witness E. Abdykalykov, who sold the land with a house and a barn to members of the Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1999, testified in court that it was him who constructed all those buildings, not the Hare Krishnas as the prosecution claims. The buildings were constructed on the strength of authorization documents.

Another witness, an architect of the Karasai district, R. Elamanov, testified in the court that he had examined the buildings of the Krishnas in
2001 and signed the act of putting them into service in accordance with the juridical norms. Thus the house and the barn were accepted for usage in conformity with the law, while the prosecution claims that it was a result of an error.

The attempt of the Karasai district hakim to declare the Krishnas' buildings illegal and demolish them leads to the destruction of the only Hare Krishna temple in Kazakhstan. This will be the final act in the planned campaign for the liquidation of the Society for Krishna Consciousness.

For the 4 years of trials the authorities of the Karasai district have destroyed 26 homes of the faithful and confiscated 47 hectares of land which was transferred to the national land reserve without any compensation.

The next court session is scheduled for Tuesday, November 25, 11:30.
The court address: Tole Bi St. 52, Kaskelen.
Tel. of the court clerk: 8 (72771) 2-10-30.
Judge Mr. Taken Shakirov.