Baptist pastor threatened

Zaur Balaev, pastor of a Baptist house church in the town of Aliabad in the northwestern region of Zakatala in Azerbaijan, was warned that he does not have the right to gather church members for worship, as the church is not registered.

On April 30, police officers “warned me of ‘unpleasantness with the law’ if we carry on meeting,” Balaev told Forum 18, a religious freedom watchdog group based in Oslo, Norway.

Balaev stated that the police officers filmed the room in the house where the church meets and examined religious materials. He fears the footage and information gathered will be used to justify future actions against the congregation. “They were studying how they might move in the future,” he said.

The congregation, which is affiliated with the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Azerbaijan, has sought registration since the mid-1990s, but it has been repeatedly denied by the authorities.

This is not the first time that authorities have attempted to close down Balaev’s congregation.

Balaev was arrested on May 20, 2007, during a raid on a church service at his home. He was originally accused of resisting arrest and setting dogs on police officers, but he was later charged, convicted and sent to prison on allegations that he beat up five policemen and damaged a police car door.  The congregation of the church denied these charges saying the pastor went peacefully. More than 50 people, including members of the congregation and non-Christian villagers, signed written statements testifying to Balaev’s innocence.

After protests from the Baptist World Alliance, the European Baptist Federation, and former United States President Jimmy Carter, Balaev, who was sentenced to two years in prison on August 8, 2007, was released from prison on March 19, 2008.

The Azerbaijan Baptist union has approximately 3,000 Baptist members in 22 churches. The Central Asian country of nine million people gained its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

May 20, 2010