The crackdown against Protestant congregations in
Turkmenistan has now widened to include the Hare Krishna community. Within a
two day period in late May, two Hare Krishna meetings were raided by the
authorities. During the raid in a village near the town of Mari in eastern
Turkmenistan, officials confined themselves to filming the devotees, but in the
capital Ashgabad, the raid was more severe. Hare Krishna sources have told
Forum 18 News Service that three devotees were detained, one was badly beaten
and two were fined. One was threatened with a criminal case, while another was
threatened with deportation from the capital.
On 27 May, a 15-strong operational group from the Ashgabad city division of the
Internal Affairs Ministry raided the home of a female devotee, Gaurabhakta devi
dasi, Hare Krishna sources told Forum 18. The house used to be the Hare Krishna
temple in Ashgabad until it was closed down by the authorities. During the
raid, which was led by Colonel Byashim Taganov, the three residents Varshana
dasa (Vitali Yefremovtsev), Mishra Bhagavan dasa (Marat Urayev) and Gaurabhakta
devi dasi were arrested.
The operational group arrived in seven cars at 5.30 a.m. They entered the
residence as the three were praying. The entry and subsequent search were
conducted without any legal documents.
Hare Krishna sources told Forum 18 that the officers filmed everyone and
everything in the house. They removed the icons from the altar, took away all
items of worship and all religious books. "They made profuse use of
abusive language," sources added. The officers ordered the devotees to
reveal where other Hare Krishna devotees lived, but the devotees refused to
tell them. Colonel Taganov told them they intended to find out where the
devotees lived and "repress them in a similar fashion".
In attempting to extract information from Mishra Bhagavan, the police beat him
so hard that they drew blood. Then Varshana dasa and Mishra Bhagavan were taken
to a holding centre. The next morning they were taken from there to the
Chindigin district court in Ashgabad. At a closed legal hearing Urayev and
Yefremovtsev were handed down a fine of some 10 US dollars each under the code
of administrative offences. After the court hearing the police warned Urayev,
who had previously been punished under the administrative code, that if he did
not stop his religious activity, a criminal case would be brought against him
and he would serve "several years" in prison.
"I take these threats very seriously," Urayev told Forum 18 from
Mari. "Basically, the only way for me not to end up in prison is to seek
asylum in another country." Gaurabhakta devi dasi was not taken to prison,
but the local authorities have indicated that they will initiate proceedings
against her, that her private home will be confiscated and that she will be
removed from Ashgabad and sent to another city.
A similar event occurred during the Narsimha celebration on 26 May in the
village of Budenovsky near Mari. Fifteen officials of the local authority came
to the celebration ceremony and filmed everyone and everything. But nobody was
arrested and nothing was confiscated. The devotees from Mari say that now there
is no repression in Mari and that "everything is quiet".
Police colonel Taganov flatly denied that he had led the raid on a Hare Krishna
community. "I know nothing about the incident," he told Forum 18 from
Ashgabad on 9 June. Urayev found his claim difficult to believe. "That is
very strange," he told Forum 18 on 9 June. "I spoke with Taganov at
some length. I cannot believe that he has forgotten personally interrogating me
and my fellow devotees." Forum 18's telephone call on 9 June to the holding
centre in Ashgabad was also fruitless. The duty officer, who did not introduce
himself, said "we do not give information about detainees over the
telephone".
The Turkmenistan authorities have refused to allow any non-Muslim or
non-Russian Orthodox communities to register. It treats all unregistered
religious activity as illegal and periodically punishes those involved in it.
Religious activity is supervised by the 6th department of the National Security
Committee (KNB, former KGB), the police and the local authorities. In addition
to the two raids on Hare Krishna devotees, at least seven Protestant
congregations were raided across Turkmenistan in May.