The attempts to settle the situation around the Society for Krishna Consciousness in the Karasai district have come to a standstill
In 1999 three members of RO Society for Krishna Consciousness acquired from farmer E. Abdykalykov the right of long-term rent for 42 hectares of agricultural land in the Karasai district, Almaty province. After exchanging one of the plots the total area of the plots came to 47.7 hectares. One of the plots included a cowshed and a residential house even before the purchase.
The Society for Krishna Consciousness organized a farm community on that land, which is a unique project for the entire CIS, not only for Kazakhstan.
In the spring of 2004 the community purchased the said plots of land and owned them as private property. The contract of purchase was signed by the Hakim of the Karasai district, B. Kutpanov; and the state acts granting private ownership were issued by the Land Department.
Thus the statements that the Krishnas’ community illegally occupied the land and built unauthorized cowshed, residential house and other buildings are untrue.
In 2002 the Society for Krishna Consciousness was legally registered in the department of justice of Almaty province and given the status of a juridical person as a religious organization (RO). Its juridical address – that of the residential house situated on the farm – is written in the certificate of state registration. The Society used that residential house as its office, and some place in the house was allotted for the purposes of worship. According to article 12 of the RK Law “Freedom of worship and religious associations in RK,” worship may be unrestrictedly performed on the territory owned by the religious organization, in the rooms of its office building, and in the residential houses (apartments) of the citizens.
Thus the statements that the Society built an unauthorized place of worship (a temple) on the agricultural land are also untrue.
The summer plots in the village and the summer cottages situated on those plots and occupied by the members of RO Society for Krishna Consciousness were acquired by them in accordance with the then regulations – by the way of joining the summer cooperative. All the cottagers, the members of RO, have title deeds corresponding to the standards of that time - so called dacha books.
Thus the statements about the unauthorized or fraudulent acquisition of summer plots and the illegal construction of buildings are untrue.
Practically from the moment of its public registration in 2002 the Society have been experiencing pressure from the local authorities that came as frequent checkups performed by the prosecutor’s office, the migration police and other agencies. In 2002 the migration police unlawfully confiscated passports of 15 members of the community and threatened them with deportation from Kazakhstan. The passports were given back only thru court. The district prosecutor’s office brought a claim against the religious organization and pursued the cancellation of its registration, however the court considered that claim unfounded. Somebody planted narcotics on the community, one of the members was accused of rape. None of these accusations was confirmed.
In August of 2004 the new wave of checkups began: the migration police, the prosecutor’s office, the tax police, the fire department, the sanitarian department and other agencies performed more than 40 checkups in one month.
In November of 2004 the hakim of the Karasai district filed his first claim against RO Society for Krishna Consciousness for confiscation and transfer of 47.7 hectares of land to the district land reserve in connection with the unauthorized use of the land. Simultaneously the hakim filed claims against more than 20 Krishna cottagers for eviction from the summer plots and demolition of the buildings. Since the claims had been compiled with very serious infractions of the legislation, the court left them unconsidered.
Beginning from the spring of 2005, new claims were made. The ground for the claims in regard to 28 plots of land owned by the RO members this time was the absence of privatization certificates. The district hakimat stopped the process of privatization without explaining the reasons, and most of the cottage owners in that summer colony have failed to receive privatization certificates and do not have them up to date. However the claims for eviction and demolition have been filed only against the members of RO Society for Krishna Consciousness.
The Karasai district court satisfied the claims of hakim B. Kutpanov. The court hearings were held with severe violations of legislation: the defendants were not informed of the hearings, the claims were considered in absence of the defendants, the court rulings were not served on the defendants, thus they were deprived of the right to defend themselves. Nonetheless all the complaints against the district court decisions were repelled by the superior courts.
On November 21, 2006, the local authorities demolished first 14 houses owned by the Krishnas. The people were left roofless and without any compensation.
The last Friday, on June 15, 2007, another 12 houses were demolished. New claims against the Krishna cottagers are coming.
As for the 47 hectares of the farm land, the second claim did not aim at confiscation, the plaintiff instead pursued the cancellation of all the contracts of sale-purchase in regard to the land at issue and the transferal thereof to the land reserve of the Karasai district. The plaintiff stated that during the original purchase of the land in 1999, a forgery was allegedly committed, even though the original of the so called counterfeit was not presented to any of the courts. Nonetheless, on December 22, 2005, the district court satisfied that claim. On March 29, 2006, the appellate instance and later (May 17, 2007) the supervisory instance of the provincial court left that decision unreversed. Thus the community was deprived of its “big” farm land.
On June 5, 2007, the Society received the order from the district hakim to demolish all the “illegally constructed” buildings of the farm, including the cowshed and the residential house, in 10 days. The religious organization was ordered to destroy with their own hands both their temple and the juridical address, which will automatically lead to the loss of the juridical status, i.e. liquidation of the juridical entity.
The officials on all levels categorically deny the fact that the Society for Krishna Consciousness has fallen under religious persecution, however the entire chain of events shows that there is a planned campaign aimed at the final liquidation of the Society, which will be done with the help of economical instruments, among other means.
As far back as February 22, 2005, the director of the department of justice of Almaty province, T. Onalbayev, at the request of the former hakim of Almaty province, S. Kulmakhanov, presented a detailed plan of actions to liquidate RO Society for Krishna Consciousness in the Karasai district. The Karasai district authorities strictly implement that step-by-step instruction to liquidate the community.
Another document fell into the hands of the community - a working plan of the summer colony made at the order of the Almaty provincial hakimat and the Provincial Land Department. We can see on that plan that all the plots owned by the Krishnas are marked, and special notes tell us what has already been done with the plots and what is yet to be done: “to be confiscated – altogether 30 plots; as of 20.12.2006 14 plots have been confiscated; 10 plots remain to be confiscated, including 3 plots with title deeds” etc.
This planned destruction of the community takes place on the background of the government’s attempts to make show of negotiations for civilized settlement of the situation. The ombudsman of human rights in RK, B. Baikadamov, ensured the community that the Kazakh government is interested that “the peaceful religious community will not fall out from the inter-religious dialogue.” He said that the government would find ways in which the conflict might be settled to the satisfaction of all the parties.
In practice these ways boil down to the proposal that the 50 members of the community with their household and the herd of 30 cows, sacred for them, should move to another district of Almaty province. For this purpose they are offered 2 hectares of land in different distant places, unfit for living, – in a saline near desert, without water and electricity. There is no discussion of any compensation for the demolished houses and for the accommodation of 50 families.
Even these negotiations have not had any concrete outcome – no written statements of intentions, no normative documents or resolutions are offered. Two days ago the chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee at the Ministry of Justice, E. Tugzhanov, who is in charge of the negotiations with the community, declared that he is powerless to influence the district hakims and refused to participate in the negotiations, and advised RO Society for Krishna Consciousness to directly approach the head of the RK President’s Administration.
The community has been deprived of its land. Most of the houses of the faithful have been destroyed, new claims are being prepared, which will be followed by new demolitions. The district hakim demands that the temple and the cowshed be demolished. Nobody offers any practical variants of relocation for the people and animals. There is no mention of any compensation. The empowered public agency – the Committee of Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, refuses to participate in the settlement of the situation. The attempts to settle the situation around the Society for Krishna Consciousness in the Karasai district have come to a standstill.
Source: www.kazakhkrishna.com, June 21, 2007