Regardless of the legal issues involved, we condemn in the strongest
possible terms plans to demolish any house of worship. We would remind
you that the last time any house of worship was destroyed in the
former Soviet Union was in Turkmenistan and the international community
and human rights organizations the world over reacted with outrage.
ALMATY. 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.
Workers and police arrived this morning (15 June) at the village near Almaty where the embattled Hare Krishna commune is based to demolish twelve more Hare Krishna-owned homes. "The houses were literally crushed in
to dust. By ten o'clock it was all over," Hare Krishna spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev – who witnessed the latest demolitions - told Forum 18 News Service. The temple, which the devotees have been ordered to destroy by today, has not been touched but the devotees fear it could be the next target.
