12/10/97 - 1341

Federal Judge Reduces Sentence

USA (VNN) - The U.S. Department of Justice says that Kirtanananda Swami (aka Keith Ham), an inmate in federal prison (Springfield, MO), is scheduled for an initial parole hearing tentatively scheduled for January 5, 1998. A recent AP report states:

"A federal judge has shortened the sentence of a former Hare Krishna leader accused of ordering the killing of two dissidents to maintain control of an enterprise in West Virginia that amassed millions of dollars through illegal fundraising activities.

U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige Jr. cited Swami Bhaktipada's failing health as one of the factors in reducing his time at a prison hospital from 20 years to 12 years. He also said Bhaktipada no longer poses a threat to society.

However a defense lawyer still expressed concerns Thursday that Bhaktipada will die in custody unless the federal Parole Commission intervenes next month.

"We're hopeful that the Parole Commission may take into account his deteriorating health," Eugene Iredale said from his San Diego, Calif., office.

Bhaktipada suffers severe asthma and has been weakened by the effects of childhood polio.

The judge told Bhaktipada he did not want the swami to die in prison when he sentenced him to the maximum penalty for racketeering in August 1996. The new order was filed in October and modified last month in Martinsburg, W.Va.

He pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge that accused him of amassing millions through fundraising scams and conspiring to murder two followers in 1983 and 1986 after they threatened to cause his downfall with rumors that he was a homosexual and a child molester. Despite the plea, he denied involvement in the slayings.

At its peak, Bhaktipada's hilltop community 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh was the nation's largest Krishna community, replete with a Palace of Gold that was visited by as many as 250,000 tourists a year. About 700 devotees lived there.

The community was expelled from the International Society of Hare Krishna Consciousness in 1987."

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Sulocana das, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, was assassinated on May 22nd, 1986 in Los Angeles, USA, 2 blocks from the L.A. ISKCON temple in his van. Some time after that, the North American temple presidents expelled the New Vrindavan community from ISKCON because of unrelated charges of noncooperation with GBC mandates of territorial boundaries and other discrepancies. There was never an ISKCON GBC investigation into this killing and the involvement of any ISKCON members and/or leaders.