AGDASH, Azerbaijan — Three Baptist women were detained and fined for “illegally spreading Christianity and other faiths” in the South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan on March 25.
The three, who are from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, were charged after police raided a Baptist religious gathering in a private home in the central town of Agdash, where children were receiving religious instruction.
Eight men raided the home of Vera Zhuchaeva, who is in her 70s, and detained the three women, who claim that officers insulted them for their faith.
Parents had been invited to send their children to Zhuchaeva’s home to listen to Bible stories during the Novruz spring festival, a holiday celebrating the arrival of spring. Approximately 12 children were present. A report stated that the police confiscated more than 500 pieces of Christian literature, 40 CDs and a CD recorder.
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