Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov remains in jail after a court in Zakatala, Azerbaijan asked the prosecutor for "further investigation" on July 29. Mirman Aliev, Shabanov's lawyer, called the ruling a partial victory, according to a July 30 report by Forum 18. He said, "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." The judge set a deadline of August 23. According to Aliev, there is no real evidence against Shabanov and his client is on trial "solely because he is Christian." The trial, to this point, has been full of irregularities. Aliev has 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."
Please remember Pastor Shabanov as he remains in detention. Pray that all charges will be dropped against him. Pray for other church leaders in Azerbaijan as they face persecution from authorities. Ilya Zenchenko, head of Azerbaijan's Baptist Union, was briefly detained and interrogated after Shabanov's trial and accused by Zakatala Deputy Police Chief Kamandar Hasanov of being "an English spy who acts only for money." Hasanov claims that there is "a special instruction not to allow Baptists to function in Zakatala District."
More information on the persecution facing Christians in Azerbaijan can be found at Azerbaijan Country Report.
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