FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) -- A Baptist pastor in the South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan has been found guilty of what supporters say are bogus weapons charges and given "a two-year corrective labor sentence," according to a worldwide Baptist group.

The Virginia-based Baptist World Alliance announced Feb. 20 that Hamid Shabanov, who pastors a house church of approximately 60 members in the town of Aliabad, had been convicted. He was arrested on June 20, 2008, after police claimed to have found an illegal weapon in his home after a raid.

Denying the allegations against Shabanov, and claiming that the weapon was planted by the police, Baptist Union of Azerbaijan General Secretary Elnur Jabiyev said the arrest "was a provocation by the police" and that it was "a deliberately targeted action," according to a BWA press release. Jabiyev claimed "the police’s aim is to halt Baptist activity and close the church in Aliabad.”

"I will continue to fight against this sentence and to clear my name," Shabanov said after his Feb. 11 conviction. The two-year labor sentence is equivalent to eight months in prison. Thus Shabanov, who has already spent more than seven months in detention or under house arrest, will not be locked up. He was ordered to pay a fine to cover the remainder of the sentence.

After his arrest, the trial against Shabanov began on July 22, 2008, but the case was referred back to the prosecutor by the judge on July 29 for further investigation. Another hearing was called on Aug. 22 without the knowledge of Shabanov, his lawyer or family. This hearing extended his detention by a further two months, which ended on Oct. 21.

The trial was scheduled to begin on Oct. 28. But it did not begin -- despite his lawyer traveling 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku -- because police failed to bring Shabanov from jail to the court.

In addition, neither the pastor’s family nor lawyer had received a copy of the indictment against him. “They haven’t even given us the case materials,” Shabanov’s lawyer said.

After another hearing on Jan. 26, Shabanov’s trial began on Feb. 4 and the verdict was handed down Feb. 11.

Shabanov is the second Baptist pastor in Aliabad to be convicted of a crime. Zaur Balaev was arrested in May 2007 and given a two-year sentence after being convicted in August of that year for beating up five policemen and damaging a police car door. Members of Balaev’s church and residents in the town also disputed the charges against Balaev, who was released in March 2008 after protests from officials of the BWA, the European Baptist Federation and former United States President Jimmy Carter.

The EBF, one of six regional fellowships of the BWA, led a delegation to Azerbaijan in January to meet with government, diplomatic and religious leaders, partly in response to the cases against Balaev and Shabanov.

Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority country, gained its independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. There are 22 Baptist churches and 3,000 baptized believers in the country of 8.7 million people.

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Related ABP stories:

Azerbaijani pastor on trial released to house arrest (11/17/2008)

Azerbaijani Baptist pastor’s trial delayed; attorney cries foul (11/4/2008)

Baptist pastor’s trial begins; Azerbaijanis claim intimidation (10/31/2008)

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