BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (ANS) -- The Cathedral of Praise Protestant church in Baku, Azerbaijan - which claims 1,500 members - has been unable to meet for worship since its tent was destroyed in an apparent arson attack in January, 2010, its pastor Rasim Halilov has told Forum 18 News Service (www.forum18.org).

Pastor Rasim

“Its re-registration application was rejected because some of its founders had changed since 2002, a decision it failed to overturn in court,” wrote Felix Corley for Forum 18 News Service.

He added, “The State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations said it cannot use another church for worship.”

Worship ban for Cathedral of Praise

Religions communities in Azerbaijan have been told that they have to re-register their places of worship and among the hardest hit communities in the wake of the compulsory re-registration is Cathedral of Praise, which has long faced obstructions from the government.

Corley said that the church was founded in 1994 but only managed to gain registration in 1999. Its Swedish pastor, Mats-Jan Söderberg, had his visa application denied in 2005 and was given two weeks to leave Azerbaijan. He was subsequently blacklisted from returning. In August 2008 the church lost the worship building it had bought and reconstructed after a complicated legal dispute. It remains unclear if the dispute was initiated to target the church for religious.
 

Cathedral of Praise logo

After the loss of its worship building, the church met in a large tent it erected on church-owned land. However, this was destroyed in a fire late on 9 January 2010. Pastor Halilov told Forum 18 that police confirmed by chemical analysis that arson was the cause but have not identified any suspects. “Since the January 2010 fire our 1,500-strong church has not been able to meet for worship,” Pastor Halilov complained.

Corley went on to say that in correspondence seen by Forum 18, the church wrote to Hidayat Orujev, chair of the State Committee, on March 29, 2010, informing him that it had agreed with Nehemiah Protestant Church in Baku to rent their building for worship and attaching the contract.

“However, Yusif Askarov, Head of the State Committee's Legal and Registration Department, wrote back declaring that under Article 12 of the Religion Law, religious communities are allowed to meet only at their registered legal address,” he said.

Challenges to re-registration denials fail

Cathedral of Praise lodged its re-registration application in late 2009. However, in a decision of which Forum 18 has seen the text, the State Committee rejected the application on 19 February 2010, though the church did not receive the rejection until May 7, 2010. The State Committee argued that the church was not the same as the one given state registration in February 2002 as five of the “founders” had changed, with no information being given as to when and why they had been removed and when and how the new founders had been chosen. It said such changes had to be notified to the State Committee within 20 days.

Pastor Halilov insisted to Forum 18 that only three of the founders had changed, not five as the State Committee claimed, and that this was allowed under the regulations. He added that no published law mentions any requirement to explain to the State Committee why any founders have changed.

“On behalf of the church, Pastor Halilov lodged a challenge to the State Committee's rejection to Sabail District Court. However on July 30, 2010, in a verdict of which Forum 18 has seen the text, Judge Araz Huseynov rejected their challenge,” wrote Corley.

Pastor Halilov told Forum 18 that the church is lodging an appeal against the decision to Baku Appeal Court. He expects it to be about six weeks before this is heard.

“We will take the case right to [the European Court of Human Rights in] Strasbourg if necessary,” he pledged. He added that at the same time, the church had written to the State Committee asking it to reconsider the rejection, hoping that the impasse can be resolved without further court hearings.

“In August, the community lodged an appeal with Baku Appeal Court.”

Corley went on to say that after all religious communities in the country were told to re-register and now, eight months after the deadline, only 448 communities have gained compulsory re-registration, including 431 mosques and only two Protestant churches.

“Re-registration for the Catholics - who were forced to apply only for their Baku parish, not for a community covering the whole of Azerbaijan - awaits the outcome of discussions between the nuncio and the Foreign Ministry,” said Corley.

He added that despite often harsh criticism of them from religious communities (mostly made in private to avoid worsening their situation still further), officials of the State Committee are unapologetic about the way they operate.

Sabina Allahverdieva of the Committee's Legal and Registration Department rejected any suggestion that her Committee was at fault over the long delays and the denials of registration. However, she absolutely refused to discuss with Forum 18 on September 1, 2010, why such a low number of the country's religious communities which have applied for registration have been successful and why many have already received rejections.

“You're not a lawyer, nor a religious community,” she told Forum 18. She added that she “does not have the right” to give information by telephone and terminated the call.

Who has got re-registration?

Corley then said that the compulsory re-registration (the third since Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991) was mandated by the harsh revisions to the Religion Law which came into force in May 2009. The re-registration deadline was January 1, 2010. Article 12 of the revised Law implies that unregistered religious activity is illegal - in violation of Azerbaijan's international human rights commitments. Furthermore, Muslim communities can only get registration if they are part of the state-backed Caucasian Muslim Board.

Can communities without registration still meet?

“Communities denied re-registration or whose applications have languished unanswered are generally still able to meet for worship if they have their own place of worship, members of a variety of religious communities have told Forum 18,” Corley added.

Fr Vladimir Fekete, a Slovak priest who heads the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan, says that when he met State Committee chair Orujev in the summer, Orujev told him that although the Catholic Church has not yet been re-registered its parish in Baku can continue functioning. Orujev said that the issue of re-registration is being resolved between Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry and the Holy See's nuncio to Azerbaijan, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti.

Fr. Fekete noted that while the old registration was for the Catholic Church in the whole of Azerbaijan, when it came to re-registration it had to lodge its application only for the Catholic parish in Baku.

Police visited Baku's Baptist church in March and told its leaders that without registration it should be closed.

Among the religious communities which have never been able to gain registration since Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991 is the Baptist congregation in the northern town of Aliabad.

Corley said, “It too has faced repeated raids by local police and the earlier imprisonment of two of its pastors. Church members again faced threats of punishment in April.”

Barnabas Fund says, “Once a Christian region, Azerbaijan is now 96% Muslim. Christians face pressures from government and local authorities. While laws expressly prohibit the government from interfering in religious activities, strict controls are placed on religious communities. Churches often find that they simply cannot register without the “patronage” of a senior figure in authority, and without registration they are prevented from buying or building places of worship. They also are more likely to face raids, threats and harassment from the authorities.”

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available here