New House Bills Call for Sanctions Review of Azerbaijani Officials

Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., introduced a bill last week that would require the Biden administration to review whether 44 Azerbaijani officials should face Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act sanctions following the “ethnic cleansing” of Armenians from the Artsakh area and the “violent repression” of political opposition.

Titus' announcement says that Azerbaijan’s human rights violations include a blockade launched in 2022 that prevented Armenians in Artsakh from receiving food, water and medical supplies, and an offensive launched in 2023 to push Armenians out of their Artsakh homeland.

“Additionally, the Aliyev government in Azerbaijan consistently represses political opposition, stifles press freedom and tortures prisoners of war,” the announcement says. “These concerning human rights transgressions require action to impose costs on the Azerbaijani regime.”

In the announcement, Ken Hachikian, chair of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, urged the State and Treasury departments to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan for “its genocide of Artsakh.” His organization said separately that it would be submitting information to those departments.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Washington had no immediate response to a request for comment.