Pastor Hamid Shabnov (Photo courtesy Compass Direct)
Azerbaijan (MNN) ― Slavic Gospel Association has been following the trial of a persecuted Azerbaijani pastor who was arrested and held on false charges. SGA's Joel Griffith says they just got the verdict. "Pastor Hamid Shabanov was actually convicted on the false charge of possessing an illegal weapon."
Unless Shabanov's conviction is quashed, he will have a criminal record. Griffith says, "He's insisting that he's innocent. He's going to continue fighting to clear his name."
The court gave Shabanov a two-year corrective labour sentence. However, because imprisonment counts as three times' corrective labour, Shabanov's sentence is the equivalent of eight months' imprisonment. As he was in pre-trial detention or house arrest for just over seven months, he has 27 days more to serve from February 11.
Griffith says there's a question as to whether Shabanov will have to go back to jail at all. He was also fined 20 percent of his salary for the remaining 27 days of his sentence. But Shabanov does not have a job, therefore he does not have a salary.
It's interesting to note that the conviction might have been an acknowledgment of Shabanov's innocence. "If he had actually been found innocent, then that reflects poorly on the police and the authorities, and it could get them into some sort of legal 'hot water.' So it's assumed that convicting him but not sending him to jail was sort of a way for the local authorities to 'save face.'"
Pastor Shabanov told Forum 18 that at the trial, he repeatedly said that he was being prosecuted to punish him for his Christian faith. His ministry has gotten particularly close scrutiny. Although SGA supports work in the region, there is much opposition.
Griffith urges people to pray for believers there. "We certainly just want them to be held up in prayer for their protection and for their encouragement. Pray also that the Gospel would be able to go forth unhindered."
