AZERBAIJAN: Imminent trial for Baptist pastor, final appeal for imprisoned Muslim
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov from the remote village of Aliabad is due to be transferred from investigation prison in the city of Gyanja back to Zakatala on 10 July, with a trial due soon after, his lawyer Mirman Aliev told Forum 18 News Service. The 51-year-old pastor faces up to three years’ imprisonment on a charge of holding an illegal weapon. “Hamid Shabanov does not consider himself guilty and insists the gun the police are claiming was his was planted by them,” Aliev reports. Ilya Zenchenko of the Baptist Union complains that Shabanov’s arrest is part of a pattern of such government activity against Baptist and other religious communities across Azerbaijan. Fellow Aliabad Baptist pastor Zaur Balaev was freed from prison in March. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has finally named a judge to hear the final appeal by Muslim teacher Said Dadashbeyli, imprisoned with eight others his family says are innocent. His lawyer told Forum 18 this could be held in late July or early August. Dadashbeyli’s wife Ilhama says she wants one thing: “That the Supreme Court in Baku completes the case and frees these innocent men from prison, where they have been held with no proof.”
Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov could face trial any time after 10 July, his lawyer Mirman Aliev told Forum 18 News Service from the capital Baku on 7 July. He said the Zakatala [Zaqatala] District Prosecutor’s Office is completing its investigation into allegations that Pastor Shabanov held an illegal weapon – an accusation he and his family vigorously refute – and is about to hand the case to court. “Hamid Shabanov does not consider himself guilty and insists the gun the police are claiming was his was planted by them,” Aliev reported. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appeal by Muslim prisoner Said Dadashbeyli against his 14-year sentence could finally be near, his lawyer Elchin Gambarov told Forum 18 on 7 July from Baku. He said it could be held in late July or early August.
Pastor Shabanov’s family told Forum 18 on 7 July from his home village of Aliabad in the remote Zakatala District of north-west Azerbaijan that they have not yet been told when the trial will be. “We are asking for prayers for him.”
Ilya Zenchenko, head of Azerbaijan’s Baptist Union who rushed to Aliabad in the wake of the arrest, believes the decision to complete Shabanov’s case and send it to the court may be a reaction to the press conference about the case held by the country’s Evangelical Alliance in Baku on 3 July. “It’s clear they have now decided to wrap up the case quickly,” Zenchenko told Forum 18 from Baku on 7 July.
The official who answered the phone on 7 July at Zakatala District Prosecutor’s Office – where Pastor Shabanov’s case has been handled by Hekimkhan Seferov – refused to discuss it with Forum 18 or say when the case would be handed to Zakatala District Court. The head of Zakatala district police, Faik Shabanov (no relation), told Forum 18 on 21 June that the pastor is a criminal, even though under Azerbaijani law individuals are innocent until found guilty in court
[source to read more: forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1155]
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Originally posted 2008-07-09 08:43:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter