ISTANBUL, November 5 (Compass)—Azerbaijani authorities have yet to implement a judicial ultimatum issued on October 15 ordering the deportation of eight foreign Christians for attending a worship service at one of Baku’s legally registered churches.
As of today, the eight Christians from Norway, Finland, Korea, Iran, Colombia and Mexico remain in the capital city, despite lapsed deadlines for the ouster of at least two of them.
“Written orders to implement an official deportation take time to filter through the court system,” a source in Baku commented. So far only three of the eight Christians slated for deportation have been summoned to the local city court nearest their Baku place of residence to be served deadline notices, the source said.
From the wording of these first three notices, “It was clear that the courts are acting at KBN (formerly KGB) direction,” a contact who had seen the documents told Compass. “The decision was not really in their hands.”
Meanwhile, at least one of the eight has been granted a one-week extension by local authorities, and another was notified that a previous visa application had been approved.
The latest ultimatum from the prosecutor general’s office upheld a ruling from Baku’s Narimanov District Court on September 7, two days after police and KNB officers forcibly interrupted Sunday services at the Baku Baptist Church and arrested 60 members of the congregation.
In the original ruling, Judge O.A. Mamedov ordered the eight expatriate Christians to be “fined and expelled” from the country for breaking the law by “organizing religious meetings, spreading illegal propaganda” and “propagating against the Islamic religion.” The two Azeri Christians leading the service were jailed for 15 days of administrative detention, accused of “resisting the police.”
Although Mamedov had specified that the deportation orders were “final and cannot be appealed,” the ruling was returned to the office of the prosecutor general for reconsideration.
A representative of the United States Embassy in Baku confirmed to Compass that the pending deportations had been discussed “at the highest levels of the government” in early October. “So it’s been brought to the president’s attention,” the spokesman said.
In a letter to President Haidar Aliev on November 3, four members of the U.S. Congress expressed “deep concern” over reports of recent actions of religious repression “which appear to have been instigated” by the government of Azerbaijan.
The letter cited police raids against the Baptist and German Lutheran churches, the pending deportation of eight expatriate parishioners, firing of several Jehovah’s Witnesses from their jobs, harassment of the foreign clergy serving the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and the government’s year-long refusal to register at least four religious congregations who have applied for legal status.
“Clearly, these governmental actions are in violation of Azerbaijan’s OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) commitments,” noted the letter.
“We urge you to ensure that the police, the Ministry of National Security, and the Department of Religious Affairs take steps to avoid further harassment of religious groups,” the letter requested.
The document referred to amendments to Azerbaijan’s 1992 religion law that prohibit all foreigners from engaging in “religious propaganda.” Such provisions, the congressmen said, contradict a number of international agreements that Azerbaijan has signed as an OSCE state, including the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document and 1990 Copenhagen Document.
A Central Asian republic with 80 percent of its population of traditional Muslim heritage, Azerbaijan declared its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991. Currently some 2,250 Azeri Christians regularly attend evangelical congregations in the country.
Copyright © 1999 Compass Direct
Related Elsewhere
The U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom examines Azerbaijan’s religious freedom from political and societal perspectives, and remarks on what the U.S. government has done in response to human rights infringements in the country.
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is this Sunday, November 14. To find out how you can be involved, check out the “Shatter the Silence” web site.
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