According to Rights Group Forum 18, officials in Azerbaijani have refused to register Protestant churches in Sumgait city.
The Church of Peace, located in northern Baku, submitted an application for registration to the state commission in April for work with religious organizations. The church told Forum 18 that state officials refused to respond to the application, leaving Christian fellowship within legal sphere.
“Around 50 members of our church community have come together to prepare and submit all the necessary documents necessary to permit official recognition and assembly,” the church leader, identified solely as Pastor Shahin, told Forum 18 in April.
The church reportedly followed official legal procedures for registration. Authorities summoned Rev. Shahin to the regional office of the State Commission in Smigait on July 7, telling him that the church was not allowed to gather as a religious community without official permission, Forum 18 reported.
“When officials asked him about the number of church members, the pastor said there were 70-80 members in the church, they were very angry with him,” a source told Forum 18.
Officials accused the pastor of “convening secret meetings and gathering people.”
“We always hold meetings openly and transparently,” he told them, further noting that the state committee often invites him to various public events. “When foreign guests came, you asked me to wear the medals I received for participating in the first Karabakh War and participate in the event, meaning that you gathered Azerbaijani pastors and took me to an event in Karabakh, Shusha.
Forum 18 reported that state committee officials found no obstacles to their church registration applications.
“They simply said we cannot hold any more meetings and are prohibited from holding religious ceremonies without registration,” the source told Forum 18.
“If we don’t take this warning and carry out religious rituals, we will punish you,” state officials told the church.
Church leaders remain uncertain whether the state board has found legal or procedural flaws in the application.
“So I don’t know if our documents are organized,” the source told Forum 18. “It appears the state commission has not even checked our documents. Authorities will restrict us from peacefully worshiping our constitutional rights and practicing our faith.
Forum 18 called the State Commission branch in Sumigait on September 18th, but no one answered the phone.
The registration issues that Sumgait Church suffers are part of the wider issues in the country. Forum 18 reported that the state committee no longer registers the church.
“There are churches that have been waiting for many years to register with the state board,” a source told Forum 18. “Maybe it’s going to happen to them that happened to us.”
Sumgait’s Peace Church is one of at least five Protestant churches that have submitted applications for registration with the state commission, lawyer and human rights advocate Murad Aliyev told Forum 18.
“Some of them have been waiting for more than two years,” Aliyev said.
One of these churches tried to register in 2023. State Commission officials appeared to respond positively next year, but registration did not continue.
“They don’t say anything,” a community member told Forum 18. “so sad.”
The state commission usually has no formal response and leaves applications from the community without accepting or rejecting applications, rights groups say.
“This makes it difficult for a community like this to take on this in court because it hasn’t responded to the challenge,” Aliyev told Watchdog.
Forum 18 asked the Baku State Commission on September 18 why they would not accept or reject registration applications from non-Muslim organizations, particularly non-Muslim organizations. He also asked, “Why of the many non-Muslim communities that have applied for registration in the state, the authorities have only accepted one since 2020.”
According to Forum 18, state officials did not respond when they were published (September 19).
The Iliabird Baptist community, located in the town of northern Alibird, has been trying to register the church for 25 years. Forum 18 said police repeatedly attacked the community and imprisoned two church pastors.
In February 2009, officials sentenced Pastor Hamid Shabanov, a former prisoner of conscience, to two years in prison for forgery, Forum 18 previously reported.
A month before Pastor Shabanov’s arrest, authorities released another pastor, Pastor Zauru Ballev. The Baku State Commission has given Rev. Shabanov’s Baptist Church limited approval from January 2020 to meet for worship. He said there was no objection to the church, which holds a worship service every Saturday morning.
The state committee’s website said the Baku community of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only non-Muslim community employee registered since December 2020. Forum 18 noted this registration of the Mormon Group on July 10, 2024.
