ALMATY: Demolition of 13 houses in the Hare Krishna community of the Karasai district, Almaty province, appointed for May 4, 2007, was stopped.

At 10 a.m. bailiffs of the Karasai district confirmed by telephone to the leaders of the Society for Krishna Consciousness that they are coming to execute the court ruling. After a little while electricity was disconnected from the community housing area.

Observers from OSCE and the US Embassy, as well as media people, then came to the demolition spot.

The bailiffs said that the request of the leaders of the Society for Krishna Consciousness to cancel the demolition in view of expected negotiations on the situation around the community can not be a good reason for the cancelling. The demolition will take place, said the bailiffs, because the Karasai Hakimat requires immediate execution of the court rulings.

The community leaders straightway informed of the situation the General Prosecutor’s office, the President’s Administration, and the Religious Committee.

Lyudmila Danilenko, an officer of the Religious Committee, said on behalf of the chairman of the Committee Yeraly Tugzhanov that the issue of the community is indeed under negotiation. Also she said that the Committee is interested to know who initiated the demolition, since there is an agreement that no force can be used until the conflict remains unresolved.

The Hakimat of Almaty province replied to the Religious Committee that they did not give any orders for demolition.

The Karasai Hakimat also found it difficult to say who had given the order to demolish the Hare Krishna’s houses.

Representatives of the General Prosecutor’s office addressed the same question to the President’s Administration, however the Administration failed to answer who supervises the issue of the Hare Krishna community.

Then electricity was turned on. The bailiffs did not come, and the demolition did not take place.