IHF connects Krishna houses pulling down with worship freedom problems

Vienna. February 6. Kazakhstan Today - The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights connects Krishna houses pulling down in Almaty region with worship freedom problems in the Republic, the agency reports.

"The question concerns not so much the property rights, but the right of citizens Kazakhstan to freely practice the religion," the Helsinki federation letter addressed to the heads of OSCE delegations said.

The Helsinki federation called judicial hearings in Karasay court on the Society of consciousness of Krishna case held on January 31 farce.

The Helsinki committee reminded that in November, 2006 Karasay authorities destroyed 13 Krishna houses. "Resettlement, confiscations and pulling down of houses the owners of which in some cases received a few hours notice before the action proceeded on the official basis that the owners did not privatize the lots and had no necessary documents of the houses," the letter underlined. In fact, Krishna Society members repeatedly appealed to the local administration with the request to register their property rights, but their appeals were rejected. "From the very beginning of this conflict Karasay authorities showed unwillingness to resolve it in a fair and an unbiased way," the letter emphasized.

In this connection, the Helsinki federation demands from the government of Kazakhstan to provide "freedom of religion on the territory of the country having demonstrated it in practice in the case with the Society of Consciousness of Krishna.

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