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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
========================================== =======
Friday 11 September 2009
AZERBAIJAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DEPORTED, BAPTIST NEXT
On 10 September Javid Shangarov, a Baptist from the small town of Yalama
in northern Azerbaijan, was fined and ordered deported for hosting
religious events in his home. "I fined him - he violated the procedure for
foreign citizens to live in Azerbaijan by propagandizing for his faith,"
police chief Gazanfar Huseinov told Forum 18 News Service. "He invited
friends and neighbours for religious events at his home." Shangarov told
Forum 18 he was born in Azerbaijan but has a Russian passport. He said
Yalama is his only home and is where his wife, two children and elderly
parents live. "It is 99 per cent certain that they will deport me." In
July, two Jehovah's Witnesses - both Georgian citizens - were deported with
no documentation for alleged "religious propaganda". One was an ethnic
Georgian born and brought up in Azerbaijan, the other an ethnic Azeri, born
and brought up in Georgia.
AZERBAIJAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DEPORTED, BAPTIST NEXT
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
After the deportation of two Jehovah's Witnesses who are Georgian citizens
from Azerbaijan in July for "illegal religious propaganda", police on 10
September fined and ordered the deportation of an Azerbaijan-born Baptist
from Yalama in the north of the country after accusing him of "illegally
propagandizing his faith" in his home. "It is 99 per cent certain that they
will deport me, even though this is my only home," Javid Shangarov told
Forum 18 from Yalama on 11 September. "They could give me just fifteen
minutes notice." Yalama's police chief Gazanfar Huseinov defended the fine
and order to deport Shangarov. "I fined him - he violated the procedure for
foreign citizens to live in Azerbaijan by propagandizing for his faith," he
told Forum 18.
Asked what Shangarov had done wrong, Huseinov declared: "He invited
friends and neighbours for religious events at his home." Asked whether
these people had attended voluntarily, he admitted that they had. Asked how
he had known that religious events had taken place, he responded: "We
conducted an investigation. We questioned those who had been there." Asked
why this was a matter for the police, he responded: "It's our duty." He
described Shangarov as a "religious radical", but refused to explain why he
believes this.
As is their usual custom, the officials who answered the telephones of
Gunduz Ismailov and Yagut Alieva, spokespersons at the State Committee for
Work with Religious Organisations, hung up as soon as Forum 18 had asked
about the deportations and other recent harassment of religious
communities.
The deportation orders appear to be part of a growing crackdown by the
authorities on a variety of faiths. Numerous Muslim, Protestant and
Jehovah's Witness gatherings have been raided and three adherents of the
late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi were sentenced to prison terms of
five to seven days in late August (see forthcoming F18News article).
The past year has also seen numerous mosques closed down on various
pretexts in the capital Baku and elsewhere (see forthcoming F18News
article).
On 19 August the authorities arrested a Jehovah's Witness, Mushfiq
Mammedov, for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious
conscience. He is in detention awaiting trial (see forthcoming F18News
article).
Twice this year the Religion Law has been amended, each time restricting
religious activity still further. Under the amendments, all religious
communities that have been able to gain state registration will have to
undergo re-registration yet again by 1 January 2010.
As many communities have been denied registration so far and as each time
re-registration has been imposed since the country became independent in
1991 the process has become more difficult, many communities are likely to
be stripped of legal status and more vulnerable to state attacks (see
F18News 22 July 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 1330>).
Baptist ordered deported
Shangarov, a local Baptist leader in the small town of Yalama close to
Azerbaijan's northern border with Russia, was fined and ordered deported
after a police raid on his home at 11.10 pm on 9 September. "The police
turned everything upside down in my house and accused me of holding illegal
books," he complained. He said they confiscated some 300 books, including
Bibles and children's Bibles, as well as DVDs and he was detained.
Shangarov was freed late on 10 September after being held for nearly 24
hours, though police retained his identity documents. He said that without
a court hearing he was given the maximum fine of 400 Manats [2,955
Norwegian Kroner, 341 Euros or 498 US Dollars] under Article 300 of the
Code of Administrative Offences, which punishes "religious propaganda" by a
foreign citizen. As allowed under the Article, Shangarov was also ordered
deported as he is a Russian citizen. For reasons he does not understand,
police told him that although the fine is 400 Manats, he has to pay 500
Manats. Asked if he will pay, he told Forum 18: "What else can I do? They
have my identity documents."
Shangarov added that while he was being held at the police station, he was
filmed by ANS television station for a hostile news item about him. "They
asked me what the literature was for and where I had got it from," he told
Forum 18. "The police summoned the journalist. I could have done without
it, but I gave the interview voluntarily." ANS showed the item nationally
on the evening of 10 September.
The station has previously given hostile coverage of religious minorities,
as have other media outlets, which often join the police or National
Security Ministry (NSM) secret police on raids on religious communities
(see F18News 1 April 2009
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1277>).
Shangarov was born in Azerbaijan, but has a Russian passport. His wife is
an Azerbaijani citizen, as is one of their two children. His elderly
parents also live locally.
Baptists say other church members in Yalama are also facing police
pressure for their faith.
Police chief Huseinov insisted that Shangarov had been fined 400 Manats
but could not explain why police were demanding 500 Manats. He said the
written notification of the punishment has not yet been shown to Shangarov,
but in any case he will not be given a copy. "He will be allowed to read
it."
Jehovah's Witnesses deported
Two Jehovah's Witnesses who are Georgian citizens - Elguja Khutsishvili
and Temur Aliev - were deported from Azerbaijan in July, Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18. Neither was given any document authorising the
deportation.
The deportation followed a 15 July raid on the family home in Gakh [Kakh],
a town close to the border with Georgia which has a large ethnic Georgian
population (see F18News 22 July 2009
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1330>).
Elguja Khutsishvili, an ethnic Georgian, was born and raised in Gakh.
Later he moved to Georgia where, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he
received a Georgian passport. In 2000 he and his family returned to
Azerbaijan. At the moment they have two children and his wife is
eight-months pregnant.
When some eight police and NSM secret police officers raided
Khutsishvili's home, they demanded that he hand over "the weapons". When he
told them he did not have any weapons, he was told to hand over any
religious literature. The police entered the house and confiscated all
religious literature they could find. The policemen entered also the house
of his brother, Givi Khutsishvili, who lives in the same courtyard, and
also confiscated all the religious literature (some 45 books and 600
magazines). The police also confiscated the Azerbaijani passports of Tarana
Khutsishvili (Elguja's wife) and of Givi Khutsishvili.
Givi and Elguja Khutsishvili were told to come to the police station the
next day and from there Elguja Khutsishvili was brought to Prosecutor's
Office. Because Khutsishvili does not know Azeri well, he could not
understand the documents that the police forced him to sign. Later that day
he was brought to the Migration Service in Baku. On 17 July he was taken to
Baku's Narimanov District Court, where the judge told him that he had
already ruled that he should be deported for conducting "religious
propaganda". He was held at the Migration Service without access to his
wife or lawyer and deported by aeroplane on 23 July.
Also deported with him was Aliev, an ethnic Azeri from Georgia who has a
Georgian passport. He often travelled to Azerbaijan's second city, Gyanja
[Gäncä], to sell watermelons, working together with Gyanja resident Vugar
Abishev. On 13 July, a police officer came to their workplace and accused
them of illegally doing business. Although they were prepared to show they
have all the necessary documents, this was ignored and they were taken to
the police station. "They were held in terrible conditions, being treated
very rudely, being insulted and without any food given to them," Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18. During their stay the police searched Abishev's
home and the place where Aliev was staying and confiscated religious
literature they found there.
The following day Aliev was brought to the Migration Service in Baku,
where he too was taken to Narimanov District Court, ordered deported for
the same reason and was also detained without access to anyone else until
his deportation.
Abishev was held by Gyanja police for three days without any explanation,
Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
Police in Gyanja and Gakh refused to discuss the cases with Forum 18.
Nine Jehovah's Witnesses are known to have been deported for what the
Azerbaijani authorities insist is "illegal" religious activity in the past
three years (see F18News 27 August 2008
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1179>). Protestants and
Muslims too are known to have been deported. (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= 1192>.
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=& religion=all&country=23>.
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/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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
========================================== =======
Friday 11 September 2009
AZERBAIJAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DEPORTED, BAPTIST NEXT
On 10 September Javid Shangarov, a Baptist from the small town of Yalama
in northern Azerbaijan, was fined and ordered deported for hosting
religious events in his home. "I fined him - he violated the procedure for
foreign citizens to live in Azerbaijan by propagandizing for his faith,"
police chief Gazanfar Huseinov told Forum 18 News Service. "He invited
friends and neighbours for religious events at his home." Shangarov told
Forum 18 he was born in Azerbaijan but has a Russian passport. He said
Yalama is his only home and is where his wife, two children and elderly
parents live. "It is 99 per cent certain that they will deport me." In
July, two Jehovah's Witnesses - both Georgian citizens - were deported with
no documentation for alleged "religious propaganda". One was an ethnic
Georgian born and brought up in Azerbaijan, the other an ethnic Azeri, born
and brought up in Georgia.
AZERBAIJAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DEPORTED, BAPTIST NEXT
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
After the deportation of two Jehovah's Witnesses who are Georgian citizens
from Azerbaijan in July for "illegal religious propaganda", police on 10
September fined and ordered the deportation of an Azerbaijan-born Baptist
from Yalama in the north of the country after accusing him of "illegally
propagandizing his faith" in his home. "It is 99 per cent certain that they
will deport me, even though this is my only home," Javid Shangarov told
Forum 18 from Yalama on 11 September. "They could give me just fifteen
minutes notice." Yalama's police chief Gazanfar Huseinov defended the fine
and order to deport Shangarov. "I fined him - he violated the procedure for
foreign citizens to live in Azerbaijan by propagandizing for his faith," he
told Forum 18.
Asked what Shangarov had done wrong, Huseinov declared: "He invited
friends and neighbours for religious events at his home." Asked whether
these people had attended voluntarily, he admitted that they had. Asked how
he had known that religious events had taken place, he responded: "We
conducted an investigation. We questioned those who had been there." Asked
why this was a matter for the police, he responded: "It's our duty." He
described Shangarov as a "religious radical", but refused to explain why he
believes this.
As is their usual custom, the officials who answered the telephones of
Gunduz Ismailov and Yagut Alieva, spokespersons at the State Committee for
Work with Religious Organisations, hung up as soon as Forum 18 had asked
about the deportations and other recent harassment of religious
communities.
The deportation orders appear to be part of a growing crackdown by the
authorities on a variety of faiths. Numerous Muslim, Protestant and
Jehovah's Witness gatherings have been raided and three adherents of the
late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi were sentenced to prison terms of
five to seven days in late August (see forthcoming F18News article).
The past year has also seen numerous mosques closed down on various
pretexts in the capital Baku and elsewhere (see forthcoming F18News
article).
On 19 August the authorities arrested a Jehovah's Witness, Mushfiq
Mammedov, for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious
conscience. He is in detention awaiting trial (see forthcoming F18News
article).
Twice this year the Religion Law has been amended, each time restricting
religious activity still further. Under the amendments, all religious
communities that have been able to gain state registration will have to
undergo re-registration yet again by 1 January 2010.
As many communities have been denied registration so far and as each time
re-registration has been imposed since the country became independent in
1991 the process has become more difficult, many communities are likely to
be stripped of legal status and more vulnerable to state attacks (see
F18News 22 July 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id= 1330>).
Baptist ordered deported
Shangarov, a local Baptist leader in the small town of Yalama close to
Azerbaijan's northern border with Russia, was fined and ordered deported
after a police raid on his home at 11.10 pm on 9 September. "The police
turned everything upside down in my house and accused me of holding illegal
books," he complained. He said they confiscated some 300 books, including
Bibles and children's Bibles, as well as DVDs and he was detained.
Shangarov was freed late on 10 September after being held for nearly 24
hours, though police retained his identity documents. He said that without
a court hearing he was given the maximum fine of 400 Manats [2,955
Norwegian Kroner, 341 Euros or 498 US Dollars] under Article 300 of the
Code of Administrative Offences, which punishes "religious propaganda" by a
foreign citizen. As allowed under the Article, Shangarov was also ordered
deported as he is a Russian citizen. For reasons he does not understand,
police told him that although the fine is 400 Manats, he has to pay 500
Manats. Asked if he will pay, he told Forum 18: "What else can I do? They
have my identity documents."
Shangarov added that while he was being held at the police station, he was
filmed by ANS television station for a hostile news item about him. "They
asked me what the literature was for and where I had got it from," he told
Forum 18. "The police summoned the journalist. I could have done without
it, but I gave the interview voluntarily." ANS showed the item nationally
on the evening of 10 September.
The station has previously given hostile coverage of religious minorities,
as have other media outlets, which often join the police or National
Security Ministry (NSM) secret police on raids on religious communities
(see F18News 1 April 2009
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1277>).
Shangarov was born in Azerbaijan, but has a Russian passport. His wife is
an Azerbaijani citizen, as is one of their two children. His elderly
parents also live locally.
Baptists say other church members in Yalama are also facing police
pressure for their faith.
Police chief Huseinov insisted that Shangarov had been fined 400 Manats
but could not explain why police were demanding 500 Manats. He said the
written notification of the punishment has not yet been shown to Shangarov,
but in any case he will not be given a copy. "He will be allowed to read
it."
Jehovah's Witnesses deported
Two Jehovah's Witnesses who are Georgian citizens - Elguja Khutsishvili
and Temur Aliev - were deported from Azerbaijan in July, Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18. Neither was given any document authorising the
deportation.
The deportation followed a 15 July raid on the family home in Gakh [Kakh],
a town close to the border with Georgia which has a large ethnic Georgian
population (see F18News 22 July 2009
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1330>).
Elguja Khutsishvili, an ethnic Georgian, was born and raised in Gakh.
Later he moved to Georgia where, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he
received a Georgian passport. In 2000 he and his family returned to
Azerbaijan. At the moment they have two children and his wife is
eight-months pregnant.
When some eight police and NSM secret police officers raided
Khutsishvili's home, they demanded that he hand over "the weapons". When he
told them he did not have any weapons, he was told to hand over any
religious literature. The police entered the house and confiscated all
religious literature they could find. The policemen entered also the house
of his brother, Givi Khutsishvili, who lives in the same courtyard, and
also confiscated all the religious literature (some 45 books and 600
magazines). The police also confiscated the Azerbaijani passports of Tarana
Khutsishvili (Elguja's wife) and of Givi Khutsishvili.
Givi and Elguja Khutsishvili were told to come to the police station the
next day and from there Elguja Khutsishvili was brought to Prosecutor's
Office. Because Khutsishvili does not know Azeri well, he could not
understand the documents that the police forced him to sign. Later that day
he was brought to the Migration Service in Baku. On 17 July he was taken to
Baku's Narimanov District Court, where the judge told him that he had
already ruled that he should be deported for conducting "religious
propaganda". He was held at the Migration Service without access to his
wife or lawyer and deported by aeroplane on 23 July.
Also deported with him was Aliev, an ethnic Azeri from Georgia who has a
Georgian passport. He often travelled to Azerbaijan's second city, Gyanja
[Gäncä], to sell watermelons, working together with Gyanja resident Vugar
Abishev. On 13 July, a police officer came to their workplace and accused
them of illegally doing business. Although they were prepared to show they
have all the necessary documents, this was ignored and they were taken to
the police station. "They were held in terrible conditions, being treated
very rudely, being insulted and without any food given to them," Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18. During their stay the police searched Abishev's
home and the place where Aliev was staying and confiscated religious
literature they found there.
The following day Aliev was brought to the Migration Service in Baku,
where he too was taken to Narimanov District Court, ordered deported for
the same reason and was also detained without access to anyone else until
his deportation.
Abishev was held by Gyanja police for three days without any explanation,
Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.
Police in Gyanja and Gakh refused to discuss the cases with Forum 18.
Nine Jehovah's Witnesses are known to have been deported for what the
Azerbaijani authorities insist is "illegal" religious activity in the past
three years (see F18News 27 August 2008
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1179>). Protestants and
Muslims too are known to have been deported. (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= 1192>.
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=& religion=all&country=23>.
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/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress