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KAZAKHSTAN

More homes at Hare Krishna commune destroyed

Please read below and sign this online petition urgently

For years there has been a battle between the local government in Kazakhstan and an innocent ISKCON community. Based on the excuse that the devotees donot have sufficient legal permission and their religion is not 'traditional to Kazakhstan', the government have been endeavouring to destroy the ISKCON temple and devotees homes by force so they can develop the land for another use. This is a serious breach of human rights!

Workers and police arrived on 15th June at the village near Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the embattled Hare Krishna commune is based to demolish twelve more Hare Krishna-owned homes. "The houses were literally crushed into dust. By ten o'clock it was all over," said ISKCON spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev.

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. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis is outraged at the continuing destruction. "The authorities are showing that they will do what they want, despite the international outrage at the earlier demolitions of Hare Krishna-owned homes." He believes the local administration chief "doesn't care about the political damage to Kazakhstan's reputation – or to its desire to chair the OSCE."

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