"What a joy it is to bring you the wonderful news that [Baptist] Pastor Zaur Balaev has been released from prison in Azerbaijan," Ann Buwalda, executive director of Jubilee Campaign USA told BosNewsLife.
"After his arrest in May 2007, Jubilee Campaign joined in advocacy for his release," Buwalda said.
Balaev was freed from Baku’s 10th prison colony Wednesday March, 19, but Jehovah’s Witness Samir Huseynov was reportedly not included in the amnesty. "We won – it’s a great joy to be free," Balaev said in a statement distributed by the news service of rights group Forum 18.
LONG JOURNEY
He apparently traveled the six-hour journey back to his home village of Aliabad in Azerbaijan’s remote north-west. "We’re all waiting for him," one of his church members was quoted as saying.
Pastor Balaev was detained in May 2007 and sentenced in August on charges of using violence against state representatives, accusation church members have strongly
denied. After his appeal failed in October Balaev was transferred to a prison in the capital Baku.
The pastor was pardoned under a March 18 decree from President Aliev, published on the presidential website, which pardoned 58 prisoners and reduced the sentence
of one other. Former United States President Jimmy Carter was amongst those who appealed for Balaev’s release, writing to President Aliev on February 15, reported Forum 18.
MORE WORK
Ilya Zenchenko, head of the Baptist Union, welcomed the release. "We thank God and those who prayed and supported Zaur," he said in published remarks. "But there is a lot
more work still to be done to defend religious freedom in Azerbaijan."
The United States State Department noted in its 2007 International Religious Freedom report that local authorities have continued to monitor “religious services, and officials at times harassed and detained members of "nontraditional" religious groups.”
It said there have been reports of “societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice. There was popular prejudice against Muslims who convert to other faiths and hostility toward groups that proselytize, particularly evangelical Christian and other missionary groups."
The State Department said that US officials are discussing religious freedom issues with the government of Azerbaijan as part of its overall policy to promote human rights in the former Soviet republic. "The Embassy monitors religious freedom and maintains contact with the Government and a wide range of religious groups." (With BosNewsLife Research).
