The Moscow Arbitration Court refused to return to the Hare Krishnas the land plot previously allocated to them by the capital's mayor's office for the construction of a temple

On March 20, the Moscow Arbitration Court considered the lawsuit of the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness (MOCK) against the Moscow government demanding the return of a land plot on Leningradskoye Shosse to them (recall that in November 2005 the Moscow government canceled the permit to allocate land to Hare Krishnas. - Ed . ) . The court refused to satisfy the claim. The reasons for this decision will be provided to the parties only in a few days, Kommersant reports.

The head of the MOSK, Sergei Andreev, commenting on the situation, said in an interview with the newspaper: "We assume that the decision was made by the court under duress and does not reflect the actual legal assessment of our claim against the Moscow government." The lawyer representing the interests of the Hare Krishnas, Andrey Rakhmilovich, said he intends to file an appeal. "If necessary, we are ready to go to the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights," he added.

The Committee for Relations with Religious Organizations of the Moscow Government welcomed the decision of the arbitration court with satisfaction. At the same time, the Kommersant correspondent was assured that "there is now a search for another land plot for Hare Krishnas, because everyone understands that a religious community cannot be thrown out of nowhere" (recall that in February, the first deputy mayor of Moscow in the Moscow Government, Vladimir Resin, said that "the Hare Krishnas have already been provided with an alternative site for the construction of their temple." - Ed. ).

On March 22, Interfax reported : “The Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness (MSKK) intends to challenge the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, which on Monday dismissed the lawsuit of Hare Krishnas against the city government, which canceled the earlier decision to allocate land for the construction of a temple on Leningradsky Prospekt.

"The decision of the court deprives us of the opportunity to restore justice. We are forced to go further in our struggle to defend our rights. If we cannot get the truth in the Russian courts, we will have to turn to the European Court of Human Rights," said Sergey Andreev, President of the ISKCON. Wednesday at a press conference in Moscow.

According to him, this is not a property dispute, but "the tragedy of an entire community of believers in Moscow." He expressed confidence that "justice will prevail and the right decision will be made to allocate the site."

In turn, the lawyer of the Moscow Hare Krishnas said that, in his opinion, "the obvious discriminatory approach of the Moscow government towards this community" is becoming obvious.

For his part, the president of the Center for Societies for Krishna Consciousness in Russia, Vadim Tuneev, noted that "if all methods are exhausted, if no other methods help, we will have to starve."

According to the encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World", published in 1998, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a neo-Hindu sect, which is a Europeanized version of Krishnaism.

On April 24, Kommersant reported that the Hare Krishnas had appealed the decision of the arbitration court. "When deciding on case #A40-2763 / 06-79-26, the Moscow Arbitration Court incompletely clarified the circumstances, and incorrectly applied the substantive law, which led to an illegal decision," the lawsuit says.

“We will fight by all legal means until justice prevails and the Hindu believers find their temple,” ISKCON President Sergei Andreev told the newspaper. But we hope that the Moscow authorities will show political wisdom and the issue of granting land on Leningradsky prospectus will ultimately be decided positively."

Sources

• "KOMMERSANT": "Arbitration did not return the land to the Hare Krishnas" // Interfax-religion. 2006. March 21. (Article by P. Korobov.)
• Moscow Hare Krishnas will challenge the decision of the court, which confirmed the refusal to allocate land for the temple // There. March 22.
• "KOMMERSANT": "Krishnaites are looking for land in court" // There. April 24th. (Article by P. Korobov.)