A bipartisan watchdog committee has for the first time urged the U.S. State Department to include Azerbaijan on its list of the world's worst religious freedom violators as it calls on the agency to take a stronger stance against violations in several countries, including Nigeria and India.

Caucasus Heritage Watch has released images that reveal the recent demolition of St. John the Baptist Church, a 19th century structure in Nagorno-Karabakh's Susa area, and the razing of a village known in Armenian as Karintak. The church and village, both with significant Armenian heritage, were under Azerbaijani control after Baku captured Susa from ethnic Armenian forces in November 2020.

Open Doors, a religious liberty watchdog, reported that many Armenian Christians fear ethnic cleansing.

The judge in the criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov in Azerbaijan has not yet convicted him.

Two Baptist pastors in two former Soviet republics faced legal challenges Monday, November 3, because they continued worship services despite opposition from local authorities, Christians and rights watchers said.