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FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
========================================== =====
Thursday 20 December 2007
AZERBAIJAN: PASTOR THREATENED WITH JAIL FOR ALLOWING CHILDREN IN CHURCH
Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja have threatened Adventist pastor
Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to ban children from attending
worship services and does not halt worship in two church-owned properties.
"People don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they
want," Major Alovset Mamedov told Forum 18 News Service, "they need to have
permission." Mamedov "threatened to imprison me for turning people into
Christians," Samedov stated. "He violates our rights to worship God - and
he insulted my personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my
rights?" Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that
he would prevent children from attending services in future, but he refused
to do this. Following a separate raid in the capital Baku, police tried to
pressure eight Adventists into giving up their faith and fined them under
the Administrative Code for holding meetings "not connected with the
conducting of religious rituals with the aim of attracting young people and
youth."
AZERBAIJAN: PASTOR THREATENED WITH JAIL FOR ALLOWING CHILDREN IN CHURCH
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja [Gäncä] have threatened a
Seventh-day Adventist pastor Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to
ban school-age children from attending worship services and does not halt
worship in two of the three church-owned properties in the city. "People
don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they want,"
Major Alovset Mamedov of the police Criminal Investigation Department told
Forum 18 News Service from Gyanja on 19 December, the day after he
interrogated and threatened Samedov. "They need to have permission - and
this needs to be recorded in the religious organisation's statute."
Pastor Samedov complains of the threats from Major Mamedov during the
interrogation. "He threatened to imprison me for turning people into
Christians," he told Forum 18 from Gyanja on 19 December. "He said he could
find 'witnesses' to testify against me, plus they have photo and film
'evidence'. Maybe this wasn't a real threat, but he certainly wanted to
intimidate me. He violates our rights to worship God - and he insulted my
personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my rights?"
However, Major Mamedov vigorously denied making any threats. "I didn't
threaten the pastor - I have no complaints against him," he claimed to
Forum 18. "I just told him to act in accordance with the law."
The threats to Pastor Samedov followed a visit to his church by a police
captain on 8 December, the same day that 13 police officers raided an
Adventist service in the capital Baku. In the wake of the Baku raid, eight
church members were held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined
(see F18 News 10 December 2007
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1059>.
"We don't know if the raids in Baku and Gyanja on the same day are
connected," Adventist leaders told Forum 18 from Baku on 19 December.
"However, it is notable that two days later, the opposition paper Yeni
Musavat and the television station ANS both had libellous material accusing
us of being connected with Armenians." Azerbaijan and Armenia are involved
in a long-running conflict over the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Adventists told Forum 18 that they have been present in Azerbaijan for
about 110 years and currently have about 700 baptised adult members in the
country. They say they have about 200 baptised adult members in Gyanja,
with children of members also attending worship. They say that all children
who attend worship services have permission from their parents to be there
and in the overwhelming majority of cases the parents are present in
services also.
As is their normal practice, no officials of the State Committee for Work
with Religious Organisations in Baku were available on 19 December to
explain to Forum 18 why a second Adventist community is now facing threats.
The police captain who visited the Gyanja church during worship on 8
December later wrote a report to the head of the city police's Criminal
Investigation Department alleging that the presence of children at the
service was illegal, Pastor Samedov told Forum 18.
During the three-hour interrogation on 18 December, Major Mamedov accused
Pastor Samedov of allowing children to attend church. "Children should be
attending school on Saturday," Mamedov told Forum 18. "There's a city
instruction that children aren't allowed to attend the mosque or any other
religious venue in school time."
However, Pastor Samedov insisted to Forum 18 that as elsewhere in
Azerbaijan, only about a tenth of Gyanja's schools still have lessons on
Saturdays, the day Adventists mark as their holy day. "All those who
attended on 8 December when a police captain visited were children who did
not have school on a Saturday."
Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that he would
prevent children from attending worship services in future, but he refused.
"I explained to him that parents bring their children along with them -
they do this voluntarily," he explained to Forum 18. "How can we ban them
>From doing this?"
Police have previously directly targeted children who attend the church.
In a November 2004 raid on a worship service, police arrested and
interrogated two leaders, fining and threatening one with deportation, and
connived at a local TV crew conducting hostile interviews with children
against the protests of their parents. Firdovsi Kerimov, local
representative of the State Committee for Work with Religious
Organisations, who took part in the interrogations and hostile TV
interviews of children, claimed to Forum 18 at the time that "everything
was done in accordance with the law" (see F18News 22 November 2004
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=458>).
Major Mamedov told Pastor Samedov that services can only take place in the
property where the church's legal address is registered, not in two other
church-owned properties. Mamedov claimed that this is because the church
has not listed all three addresses of its churches in the city in its
statute registered with the State Committee for Work with Religious
Organisations. "I've read their statute and it doesn't give this
information," Mamedov told Forum 18.
The Adventists say that the Gyanja church's statute was registered in 2002
and that the church bought the two other properties in 2003. They say the
statute defines the territory of the church's activity as "the city of
Gyanja" and that the local authorities know that the church holds services
at all three church-owned meeting places. The Adventists also point out
that under Azerbaijani law, they also have the right to hold meetings in
private homes and at other locations such as cemeteries.
In a charge frequently levelled at Protestant Christians in Azerbaijan,
Mamedov also accused the Adventists of paying people to convert to
Christianity. "The Adventists give 35 shirvans to each person who attends -
they have massive funds," he claimed to Forum 18. (A shirvan is a popular
name for 2 Manats, thus the sum represents 70 Manats [462 Norwegian Kroner,
58 Euros or 83 US Dollars].) Asked what proof he had, he responded: "There
are people who have proved this - and I have photos." However, he refused
to give Forum 18 any names or contact details of individuals who say they
have received money to attend Adventist services.
Pastor Samedov vigorously refutes the accusation that his church gives
money to anyone to attend. "First of all, and most importantly, it is not
true and they have no facts that back up their claim," he told Forum 18.
"Secondly, it is not against the law even if anyone does want to pay people
to attend religious services."
Pastor Samedov said that also present during the 18 December interrogation
was Ferdovsi Kerimov, who took part in the November 2004 raid,
interrogations and hostile TV interviews of children against the protests
of their parents. Kerimov is the Gyanja representative of the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, he failed to
defend me - and refused to explain this to me," Pastor Samedov told Forum
18.
Reached several times on 19 December, Kerimov refused to answer Forum 18's
questions about his involvement in the case.
Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the 8 December raid on
the Baku church, Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev and seven other congregation
members were fined under Article 299 part 3 of the Code of Administrative
Offences. This states that "the holding by clergy and members of religious
associations of meetings and the creation of labour, literary and other
circles and groups not connected with the conducting of religious rituals
with the aim of attracting young people and youth carries a fine of 10 to
15 times the minimum monthly wage for responsible figures."
"This doesn't even apply to us, as the four children present on 8 December
were Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev's own children," Adventist leaders said. "In
addition, the police issued no documents about the fine - they just took
the money."
In an account of her five-hour detention on 8 December, seen by Forum 18,
one of the eight Adventists from Baku describes how police treated the
group. "Police officers and people in civilian clothes asked us questions
about our faith," Samira Karaeva reported. "When we answered they laughed
at our responses, and they asked me to sing for them some religious songs.
They tried to convince us that our religious convictions are untrue, that
we are on the wrong path and that we should abandon this path."
Karaeva said she and her fellow-Adventists protested at the "insulting"
way the police addressed their pastor and one elderly church member. "The
police officers used disrespectful expressions about our freedom of belief
and choice." She complained that books and church documents confiscated
during the raid had not been returned.
Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the Baku raid they had
written a letter of complaint to Hidayat Orujev, chair of the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, we have had no
response," they lamented. (END)
For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the
international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan,
see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 482>
For more background information see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious
freedom survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id' >.
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&a mp;religion=all&country=23&results=50>.
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=806>.
A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
========================================== =====
Thursday 20 December 2007
AZERBAIJAN: PASTOR THREATENED WITH JAIL FOR ALLOWING CHILDREN IN CHURCH
Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja have threatened Adventist pastor
Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to ban children from attending
worship services and does not halt worship in two church-owned properties.
"People don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they
want," Major Alovset Mamedov told Forum 18 News Service, "they need to have
permission." Mamedov "threatened to imprison me for turning people into
Christians," Samedov stated. "He violates our rights to worship God - and
he insulted my personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my
rights?" Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that
he would prevent children from attending services in future, but he refused
to do this. Following a separate raid in the capital Baku, police tried to
pressure eight Adventists into giving up their faith and fined them under
the Administrative Code for holding meetings "not connected with the
conducting of religious rituals with the aim of attracting young people and
youth."
AZERBAIJAN: PASTOR THREATENED WITH JAIL FOR ALLOWING CHILDREN IN CHURCH
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja [Gäncä] have threatened a
Seventh-day Adventist pastor Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to
ban school-age children from attending worship services and does not halt
worship in two of the three church-owned properties in the city. "People
don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they want,"
Major Alovset Mamedov of the police Criminal Investigation Department told
Forum 18 News Service from Gyanja on 19 December, the day after he
interrogated and threatened Samedov. "They need to have permission - and
this needs to be recorded in the religious organisation's statute."
Pastor Samedov complains of the threats from Major Mamedov during the
interrogation. "He threatened to imprison me for turning people into
Christians," he told Forum 18 from Gyanja on 19 December. "He said he could
find 'witnesses' to testify against me, plus they have photo and film
'evidence'. Maybe this wasn't a real threat, but he certainly wanted to
intimidate me. He violates our rights to worship God - and he insulted my
personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my rights?"
However, Major Mamedov vigorously denied making any threats. "I didn't
threaten the pastor - I have no complaints against him," he claimed to
Forum 18. "I just told him to act in accordance with the law."
The threats to Pastor Samedov followed a visit to his church by a police
captain on 8 December, the same day that 13 police officers raided an
Adventist service in the capital Baku. In the wake of the Baku raid, eight
church members were held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined
(see F18 News 10 December 2007
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1059>.
"We don't know if the raids in Baku and Gyanja on the same day are
connected," Adventist leaders told Forum 18 from Baku on 19 December.
"However, it is notable that two days later, the opposition paper Yeni
Musavat and the television station ANS both had libellous material accusing
us of being connected with Armenians." Azerbaijan and Armenia are involved
in a long-running conflict over the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Adventists told Forum 18 that they have been present in Azerbaijan for
about 110 years and currently have about 700 baptised adult members in the
country. They say they have about 200 baptised adult members in Gyanja,
with children of members also attending worship. They say that all children
who attend worship services have permission from their parents to be there
and in the overwhelming majority of cases the parents are present in
services also.
As is their normal practice, no officials of the State Committee for Work
with Religious Organisations in Baku were available on 19 December to
explain to Forum 18 why a second Adventist community is now facing threats.
The police captain who visited the Gyanja church during worship on 8
December later wrote a report to the head of the city police's Criminal
Investigation Department alleging that the presence of children at the
service was illegal, Pastor Samedov told Forum 18.
During the three-hour interrogation on 18 December, Major Mamedov accused
Pastor Samedov of allowing children to attend church. "Children should be
attending school on Saturday," Mamedov told Forum 18. "There's a city
instruction that children aren't allowed to attend the mosque or any other
religious venue in school time."
However, Pastor Samedov insisted to Forum 18 that as elsewhere in
Azerbaijan, only about a tenth of Gyanja's schools still have lessons on
Saturdays, the day Adventists mark as their holy day. "All those who
attended on 8 December when a police captain visited were children who did
not have school on a Saturday."
Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that he would
prevent children from attending worship services in future, but he refused.
"I explained to him that parents bring their children along with them -
they do this voluntarily," he explained to Forum 18. "How can we ban them
>From doing this?"
Police have previously directly targeted children who attend the church.
In a November 2004 raid on a worship service, police arrested and
interrogated two leaders, fining and threatening one with deportation, and
connived at a local TV crew conducting hostile interviews with children
against the protests of their parents. Firdovsi Kerimov, local
representative of the State Committee for Work with Religious
Organisations, who took part in the interrogations and hostile TV
interviews of children, claimed to Forum 18 at the time that "everything
was done in accordance with the law" (see F18News 22 November 2004
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=458>).
Major Mamedov told Pastor Samedov that services can only take place in the
property where the church's legal address is registered, not in two other
church-owned properties. Mamedov claimed that this is because the church
has not listed all three addresses of its churches in the city in its
statute registered with the State Committee for Work with Religious
Organisations. "I've read their statute and it doesn't give this
information," Mamedov told Forum 18.
The Adventists say that the Gyanja church's statute was registered in 2002
and that the church bought the two other properties in 2003. They say the
statute defines the territory of the church's activity as "the city of
Gyanja" and that the local authorities know that the church holds services
at all three church-owned meeting places. The Adventists also point out
that under Azerbaijani law, they also have the right to hold meetings in
private homes and at other locations such as cemeteries.
In a charge frequently levelled at Protestant Christians in Azerbaijan,
Mamedov also accused the Adventists of paying people to convert to
Christianity. "The Adventists give 35 shirvans to each person who attends -
they have massive funds," he claimed to Forum 18. (A shirvan is a popular
name for 2 Manats, thus the sum represents 70 Manats [462 Norwegian Kroner,
58 Euros or 83 US Dollars].) Asked what proof he had, he responded: "There
are people who have proved this - and I have photos." However, he refused
to give Forum 18 any names or contact details of individuals who say they
have received money to attend Adventist services.
Pastor Samedov vigorously refutes the accusation that his church gives
money to anyone to attend. "First of all, and most importantly, it is not
true and they have no facts that back up their claim," he told Forum 18.
"Secondly, it is not against the law even if anyone does want to pay people
to attend religious services."
Pastor Samedov said that also present during the 18 December interrogation
was Ferdovsi Kerimov, who took part in the November 2004 raid,
interrogations and hostile TV interviews of children against the protests
of their parents. Kerimov is the Gyanja representative of the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, he failed to
defend me - and refused to explain this to me," Pastor Samedov told Forum
18.
Reached several times on 19 December, Kerimov refused to answer Forum 18's
questions about his involvement in the case.
Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the 8 December raid on
the Baku church, Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev and seven other congregation
members were fined under Article 299 part 3 of the Code of Administrative
Offences. This states that "the holding by clergy and members of religious
associations of meetings and the creation of labour, literary and other
circles and groups not connected with the conducting of religious rituals
with the aim of attracting young people and youth carries a fine of 10 to
15 times the minimum monthly wage for responsible figures."
"This doesn't even apply to us, as the four children present on 8 December
were Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev's own children," Adventist leaders said. "In
addition, the police issued no documents about the fine - they just took
the money."
In an account of her five-hour detention on 8 December, seen by Forum 18,
one of the eight Adventists from Baku describes how police treated the
group. "Police officers and people in civilian clothes asked us questions
about our faith," Samira Karaeva reported. "When we answered they laughed
at our responses, and they asked me to sing for them some religious songs.
They tried to convince us that our religious convictions are untrue, that
we are on the wrong path and that we should abandon this path."
Karaeva said she and her fellow-Adventists protested at the "insulting"
way the police addressed their pastor and one elderly church member. "The
police officers used disrespectful expressions about our freedom of belief
and choice." She complained that books and church documents confiscated
during the raid had not been returned.
Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the Baku raid they had
written a letter of complaint to Hidayat Orujev, chair of the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, we have had no
response," they lamented. (END)
For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the
international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan,
see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 482>
For more background information see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious
freedom survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id' >.
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&a mp;religion=all&country=23&results=50>.
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_ id=806>.
A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/