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Azerbaijan
Mission Network News
April 12th, 2013
"A court in Azerbaijan has fined Pastor Zaur Balaev and a co-worker more than $1900. Balaev was jailed in 2007 for failing to register his church, even though he's been attempting to do since 1994. Spokesman for Slavic Gospel Association Joel Griffith says these fines are just another trial for Balaev. "His wife, Nunuka, developed pancreatic cancer, so he's been in the middle of trying to make sure she gets treated for her serious illness. Then, to have to face these legal difficulties is just doubly tragic." Griffith says the government antagonism isn't stopping the congregation from worshipping, which prompted the fines. Christians in the West need to be wise in their response to this. "We don't want to do anything that would cause any harm to come to any of our missionary pastors or any of the churches there. We've seen sometimes where western pressure has the opposite result, and they end up cracking down even harder." Balaev is appealing."