Former ICC prosecutor calls out U.S. president`s complicity in  Azerbaijan`s ongoing genocide against Artsakh population 

ArmInfo. Former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo  called out President Biden's complicity in Azerbaijan's ongoing genocide against Artsakh's 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, in powerful remarks delivered before a Congressional hearing of the Tom  Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC), reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

    "President Biden or Secretary Blinken can officially tell Mr. Aliyev  to remove tomorrow, unconditionally, the blockade of the Lachin  Corridor, or we consider you responsible for genocide. [...] And, of  course, that will trigger a lot of consequences," stated Ocampo,  speaking in a packed Rayburn House Office Building hearing room.

    Ocampo pushed back against arguments that Armenia-Azerbaijan  negotiations may be hampered by the proper characterization of  genocide describing Azerbaijan's over 260-day blockade of Artsakh.  "The negotiation is between a genocider and his victims. You cannot  ask for a negotiation between Hitler and the people in Auschwitz.  It's not a negotiation. You have to stop Auschwitz and then discuss  negotiation. And that, I think, is the secret here," stated Ocampo.   The former ICC prosecutor went on to note that "knowing that  President Aliyev is using genocide and trying to deny the genocide,  the U.S. assistance to deny the genocide could be considered  complicity."

    ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian echoed Ocampo, underscoring  that: "Today's hearing put President Biden on public notice that he  is - according to the spirit and the letter of the Genocide  Convention - complicit in Azerbaijan's genocide against the 120,000  indigenous Christian Armenians of Artsakh - citizens of an at-risk  democracy blockaded by an oil-rich dictatorship."

    Rep. Chris Smith: "This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was  planned, tested, and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan."

    Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) -  a longtime champion of human rights around the world and leading  voice in the decades-long effort to secure U.S. reaffirmation of the  Armenian Genocide - was outspoken in his characterization of  Azerbaijan's genocide in Artsakh.

    "There are 120,000 ethnic Armenians who have been sealed off from  food and medicine and are being starved to death by the government of  Azerbaijan. [.] This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was  planned, tested, and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan; that is  to say, by President Aliyev who rules Azerbaijan with an iron fist as  a dictator," stated Chairman Smith in his opening remarks of the  hearing.

    He went to slam Biden Administration officials for not responding to  repeated invitations to participate in today's hearing.  "This  hearing has two empty chairs. Two. Those of the U.S Department of  State and USAID. I requested that they both provide a witness for  this hearing. Despite repeated requests by phone and email, neither  responded. Not even a response. Since 1995 I have chaired hundreds of  hearings with State Department or USAID witnesses. This is a unique  case of absolute nonresponse," stated Chairman Smith.

    "It speaks volumes about the bankruptcy of the Biden-Harris  administration's genocide-aligned policies on Artsakh that they  refused Chairman Smith's repeated requests to send even a single US  State Department or USAID witness to today's hearing," noted the  ANCA's Aram Hamparian.

    Chairman Smith highlighted the Biden Administration's failure to  adequately respond to Azerbaijan's escalating aggression and blockade  against Artsakh.  "Requests in bland bureaucratic language do not  count, not when people are being subjected to genocide," stated Rep.  Smith.  "Today, the State Department issued a readout of Secretary  Blinken's September 1st call with President Aliyev, where [they  expressed] 'concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation,  reiterated our call to reopen, underscored the need for a dialogue  and compromise.' This is completely inadequate and I believe it is  insulting. One side is committing genocide against the other and the  State Department expresses concern urging the victim to dialogue and  to compromise."

    David Phillips: "By being silent, by not acting, the Biden  administration is making a statement that it values Azeri oil and gas  more than it does the lives of Armenians in Artsakh" 

David L. Phillips, the Director of Columbia University's Artsakh  Atrocities Project and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University,  offered powerful testimony citing atrocities committed by Azerbaijani  government officials against Armenians in the Republics of Artsakh  and Armenia and calling for concrete U.S. sanctions against both  Azerbaijan and its top leadership.

    "Azerbaijan does not have a diversified economy. It relies on oil and  gas resources. The levels of corruption by the Aliyev family are well  documented. Freezing accounts and financial resources of officials  and corrupt leadership responsible would be more effective in  Azerbaijan than it would be elsewhere," argued Phillips.  "If the  situation is not dramatically reversed soon, the U.S. and its allies  should give the Armenians the means to defend themselves and exercise  of the duty to prevent genocide, lest history repeat itself."

    Phillips went on to criticize the international community for not  imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan sooner.  "The international  community failed to sanction individuals who committed crimes after  the wars in 2016 and 2020. Its message of failure sent a  communication to the government of Azerbaijan that it can act with  impunity and escape repercussions for its crimes against humanity,  ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide," stated Phillips.  "This  signals Azerbaijan, as well as other regimes around the world, that  they can escape consequences for violating international humanitarian  law and committing crimes against humanity."

    The September 6th emergency hearing on Nagorno Karabakh following the  June 22nd hearing hosted by TLHRC Co-Chairs Chris Smith (R-NJ) and  James McGovern (D-MA), which included remarks by Congressional  Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Frank Pallone  (D-NJ). Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also submitted a written statement  for the record. Titled "Safeguarding the people of Nagorno Karabakh,"  the hearing included testimony by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for  International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador  to Armenia John Evans, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow  Michael Rubin, and Columbia University's Phillips.