A court in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan has sentenced five evangelical Christians from the Vineyard Church to heavy fines equivalent to approximately three average monthly salaries for participating in an unregistered religious service. As was only revealed in early August, the verdict was handed down on June 19, 2025. The organization “Forum 18” from Oslo, Norway, reported on the verdict and the preceding police action. Approximately 20 officers stormed the service in April 2025 at a private home that had been under surveillance by the authorities. According to the report, three of the five convicted individuals, who originated from the capital, Baku, were held without food for two days.

The State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations in Baku and its branch in Nakhchivan deny non-Muslim communities mandatory state registration in Nakhchivan. This means that anything non-Muslim communities do in Nakhchivan is illegal and punishable. Even in the heartland, non-Muslim communities routinely receive negative notices from the State Committee when they apply for registration, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Islamic congregations that are permitted are all under state control. As an exception, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, was successfully registered in July 2024. This was the first new non-Muslim community registered by the State Committee since December 2020.

The image shows a panorama of the village of Khanagah in the Cholfa District of the Nakhchivan exclave. The area once belonged to the Great Armenian Kingdom. By the 1897 census in the Russian Empire, only 34.4 percent of the population was Armenian. During the Soviet era, it was incorporated into the Azerbaijan SSR. Afterward, the Armenian population declined drastically due to oppression; by the end of the Soviet era, less than one percent of the population was Armenian.