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Azerbaijan: Police deports local-born Baptist - with no documentation

Local Baptist Javid Shingarov was cut off from his wife, father and children in his native village near Yalama in northern Azerbaijan when he was deported to Russia on 30 September, reports Forum 18 News Service.

Yalama's police chief Gazanfar Huseinov - who punished him under the Administrative Code with a fine and deportation order for holding religious worship in his home - refused to tell Forum 18 News Service why he had refused to give his verdict in writing and why the Migration Service was apparently not involved.

An official of the Human Rights Ombudsperson's office told Forum 18 that failure to give a verdict in writing is a violation of the law and that the Law on Migration puts responsibility for deportation decisions on the State Migration Service, not the police.

The Christian books confiscated from Shingarov and others during raids on 9 September have not been returned, while a Baptist whose home was among those raided was pressured to resign from his job as a school director.

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TAGS: Azerbaijan police chief deportation local-born Baptist persecution Migration Service

[10/05/2009]

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