Forum 18 News: Azerbaijan, Russia
23 July 2008
Azerbaijan: "Prosecutors very much want to sentence Hamid"
The criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov began in the north-western town of Zakatala on 22 July, despite the fact that the prosecution had refused to hand the defence the case materials, Baptist Union leader Ilya Zenchenko told Forum 18 News Service. The trial resumes on 28 July. The same court sentenced fellow Baptist pastor Zaur Balaev to prison in 2007. Shabanov is being prosecuted on charges that he held an illegal weapon and faces up to three years' imprisonment. His church and family insist the weapon was planted during a massive raid on his home on 20 June during which he was arrested. They say he is being prosecuted to punish him for leading his congregation. "Prosecutors very much want to sentence Hamid," Zenchenko warned. "This whole case has been staged. We pray to God for him to come home," Shabanov's family told Forum 18. Meanwhile prosecutors in the capital Baku are trying to prosecute Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Mushfiq Mammedov for a second time on charges of evading military service, although the Constitution and the Criminal Code ban this.
30 July 2008
Azerbaijan: Baptist pastor still in jail, prosecution given second chance
The judge in the criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov has not yet convicted him, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Defence lawyer Mirman Aliev told Forum 18 that "we called for Shabanov to be acquitted, for an end to the criminal case and for him to be freed. But the judge was afraid to do so and instead sent the case back for further investigation." He said the judge ordered the re-investigation to be complete by 23 August, ready for a new trial. Officials were reluctant to discuss the case with Forum 18. After the trial, Zakatala Deputy Police Chief Kamandar Hasanov accused the head of the Baptist Union, Ilya Zenchenko, of being "an English spy who acts only for money." Hasanov claimed that there is "a special instruction not to allow Baptists to function in Zakatala District." Defence lawyer Aliev complained of "numerous, gross violations of procedure" including forged documents, with alleged interrogations of Shabanov on days when no interrogations took place. Police have also wrongly claimed that copies of the Bible in Azeri and Georgian are "illegal".
22 July 2008
Russia: Is mass disruption to Jehovah's Witness congresses coordinated?
The authorities have prevented about eight Jehovah's Witness congresses from taking place so far this summer while about thirty have gone ahead despite official attempts to obstruct them, Marina Topuriya of the Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service. The FSB security service, local administrations and Prosecutor's Offices have all been involved. Congresses in Kemerovo and Kirov due to have begun on 25 July are the latest to be abruptly cancelled. "We suspect it's co-ordinated, because everywhere the methods are the same," she noted. "It's difficult to say where the wind is blowing from. But we can see the results." The FSB security service in Moscow refused to discuss with Forum 18 their role in the cancellations, but an officer in Vladikavkaz denied that the FSB had obstructed the local Jehovah's Witness congress. A pending legal case in Sverdlovsk Region could see many Jehovah's Witness books and magazines – including "Watchtower" – declared extremist and banned. Acting Public Prosecutor Aleksei Almayev denied that this was a "witch hunt" and dismissed Jehovah's Witness fears that the magazine could be banned in its entirety. Religious freedom lawyer Anatoli Pchelintsev shares the Jehovah's Witnesses' concerns. "I feel [the authorities] want to close down the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, though of course they physically couldn't do this."
Source: www.forum18.org