08/28/98-2086

Hare Krishna Mayor Accused of Taking Over Serb Homes

Croatia (VNN) - from Agence France Presse, August 26, 1998 15:32 GMT

SECTION: International news

HEADLINE: Hare Krishna mayor accused of taking over Serb homes in Croatia

DATELINE: ZAGREB, Aug 26

A Croatian mayor who is part of the Hare Krishna religion espousing peace and love has blocked Serb refugees wanting to return to their homes in his town and given the houses to his fellow devotees, a human rights group charged Wednesday.

The mayor, Luka Hodak, allowed sect members to take over the Serb properties and himself "lives in a house belonging to a Serb family, which cannot go in," the Croatian branch of the Helsinki Committee said.

Hodak's fellow Hare Krishnas "have made threats and predicted that blood will flow and that they will never leave the houses that they took over by force," the group said, adding that 27 such homes were occupied and that the sect members planned to seize 10 others.

The houses are located in Licka Jesenica, south of Zagreb, where, before the 1991-1995 Serbo-Croat war, almost the entire population of 444 was Serb. Now, only 70 Serbs live there.

Hare Krishnas are devoted to the worship of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who, incarnated in the form of Lord Krishna, was said to have descended on earth 5,500 years ago with the message of peace and love for a distressed humanity.

Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse