BAKU POLICE BREAK-UP SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST WORSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001463

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV KIRF AJ
SUBJECT: BAKU POLICE BREAK-UP SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST WORSHIP
SERVICE

REF: A. BAKU 01276


B. BAKU 01029

C. BAKU 00794

Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Joan Polaschik for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (SBU) According to Seventh Day Adventist Pastor Ivan
Zavrichko, five to six police officers broke up a gathering
of approximately twenty Seventh Day Adventists on December 8.
Zavrichko said the group was conducting a religious service
in a personal apartment near the Gara Garayev metro station
in Baku; police claimed the gathering was illegal because the
congregation was not registered. (NOTE: The main Seventh
Day Adventist Church in Baku's Ganclik neighborhood is
registered, but not this particular congregation, which is
considered a branch of the main church. Zavrichko, the
pastor of the main Adventist church, told us the Adventists
had sent a request to the State Committee for Work with
Religious Associations (SCWRA) to hold the service several
days before December 8, but they had not heard anything from
the SCWRA.)


2. (C) According to Zavrichko, the police arrested eight
Adventists -- including the local pastor, Rasim Bakhshiyev --
and detained them for approximately eight hours at the 25th
police department. The eight Adventists have been released,
although Bakhshiyev was fined 16.5 Azerbaijani manat (19.5
USD) and the other members were fined 11 manat (13 USD).
Several of the arrestees had to sign a document acknowledging
that the gathering was illegal and stating they would abstain
from converting to another religion. Bakhshiyev and
Zavrichko told us the police were verbally abusive of the
detained members, but the police were not physically abusive.
The pastors said the police verbally assaulted the
Adventists, who were Azerbaijanis, for betraying Islam. The
police also confiscated some literature from the service to
determine whether it was legal.


3. (C) Comment: Since 1991, the GOAJ periodically steps up
pressure against select religious groups, especially those
communities the GOAJ perceives as "untraditional." (NOTE:
The GOAJ believes the "traditional" religious communities are
Muslims -- as regulated by the Caucasus Muslim Board -- Jews,
the Russian Orthodox church, and several other smaller
Christian groups. Per reftel accounts of GOAJ pressure
against several Protestant groups, it appears that the GOAJ
is engaging in one of its periodic efforts selectively to
harass some religious groups. We also note that the
Ambassador attended a service at the main Seventh Day
Adventist church several weeks ago. We have no evidence that
the breakup of the December 8 service was linked to the
Ambassador's attendance at the main church.
DERSE