Human rights observers oppinion regarding Commission on Hindu issue
BRIEF NOTES
on participation of the Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights
and Law Observance and Almaty Helsinki Committee in the work of the Commission
for Investigating the Situation around the Society for Krishna Consciousness
December 14, 2006
The Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights and Law Observance (KIBHR), a non-governmental human rights organization, has been monitoring the situation with human rights and civil liberties in Kazakhstan since 1993.
KIBHR was invited along with members of the OSCE Center in Almaty and the Almaty Helsinki Committee to observe the activities of the Commission for Investigating the Situation around the Society for Krishna Consciousness (abbr. the Commission).
The Commission was established at the Religious Affairs Department of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ministry of Justice. A. Mukhashov, the assistant chairman of the Department, was appointed the chairman of the Commission. The Commission also comprised representatives of the General Prosecutor’s office, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as members of local executive authority from the Karasai District Hakimat and representatives of the Society for Krishna Consciousness (SKC). Besides, spokespersons from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Spiritual Board of Kazakhstan Muslims were included in the Commission.
Answering the proposal of the Society for Krishna Consciousness, members of the OSCE Center in Almaty, the Almaty Helsinki Committee and KIBHR were invited to participate in the Commission as observers.
The first meeting of the Commission took place in Astana city on the very day the Commission was established – September 7, 2006. Almost all the members of the Commission were present.
As lawyers representing the local authorities (the Karasai Hakimat) and SKC spoke about the legal aspects of the conflict, spokespersons of SKC pointed out elements of religious discrimination, which were rejected by the representatives of the local authorities.
After quite an intense discussion a decision was made to give time to the local authorities (the Karasai Hakimat) and SKC to prepare materials thoroughly describing the position and arguments (legal etc.) of both parties.
It was decided to appeal to the Prosecutor’s office and the law courts with a request to suspend all the actions and the execution of decisions until the Commission will review the mentioned materials and personally visit the place in the Karasai district, Almaty province, where SKC’s bio-farm and its members’ houses are located.
The first meeting of the Commission has left a contradictory impression because the governmental representatives externally showed their desire to find a mutually beneficial solution and simultaneously refused to consider legal aspects, limiting the issue to establishing the fact or an absence of the fact, of religious discrimination, although these two things were apparently interrelated. Besides, sometimes the governmental representatives clearly showed inimical and even aggressive attitude towards the members of SKC.
The next meeting took place in Kaskelen city of Almaty province, in the building of the Karasai Hakimat, on September 28, 2006, and was practically purposeless because it was during this meeting that ĺđó materials prepared by both parties were presented for the first time.
Among the members of the Commission only the chairman was present. Clearly inimical attitude of the Karasai Hakimat’s officers towards the members of SKC was even more visible than during the first meeting in Astana. The observers received the materials compiled by the parties. It was decided to visit the place at issue, which is situated several kilometers from Kaskelen. However, besides the observers who immediately went there in a car of SKC, no governmental officer appeared there, at least within two hours.
The last meeting was attended by only three members of the Commission: A. Mukhashov, the assistant chairman of the Religious Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Tlentchiev of the General Prosecutor’s office, and Mr. Govinda Swami, the Coordinator of SKC. First part of the meeting took place on one of the summer co-operative's plots adjoining the community. The meeting was attended by citizens of another village who had no connection with the land issue but actively expressed their objection to the existence of the Krishna community in the village. TV reporters invited by the district Hakimat filmed the event. The discussion boiled down to protests against the religious activities of the community.
Second part of the meeting took place on the territory of the community and was also attended by citizens of the neighboring villages. Members of the summer co-operative, some of them members of the community and others not, both expressed their dissatisfaction with the local authorities. A. Mukhashov, who chaired the meeting, insisted that the community's activities are illegal, and suppressed all the attempts by the lawyers and members of the community to argue against the court decisions and the actions of the district authorities.
KIBHR did not take part in any other meetings of the Commission, nor was it invited to any meetings or presented any conclusions of the Commission.
Our general impression of the Commission’s meetings and discussions with the chairman and the members of the Commission (represented by local officials) attended by KIBHR is that the authorities have not shown any real desire to look into the essence of the conflict and find a mutually beneficial intelligent and just solution for SKC.
Furthermore, the authorities constantly tried to avoid discussing the legal aspects of the issue, although justness of the court decisions against the members of SKC is that which is indeed doubtful.
The impression was that the authorities held “all-round defense,” trying to defend all their decisions, and the main goal of the Commission was not to find out truth in all questionable issues and help SKC to regulate their relations with the local authorities, but to prove by any means (even by “organizing” public opinion) that SKC is not right and there is no direct or indirect religious discrimination.
Unfortunately, the Commission did not show any interest in knowing the observers’ opinion of the issue.
Evgeniy Zhovtis,
the director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights and Law Observance,
tel. (3272) 924242
Ninel Fokina,
the chairman of the Almaty Helsinki Committee
(International Helsinki Human Rights Federation), tel. (3272) 695328
<http://www.kazakhkrishna.com/en-news/181.html>
<http://www.krishna.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1755&Itemid=353>
<http://www.humanrights.kz>