A group of American congressmen led by Dina Titus plans to present a bill on sanctions against Azerbaijan this week. The Washington correspondent of Turan learned about this from sources in Congress.
This bill provides for sanctions against more than 40 Azerbaijani officials – military officers, judges, investigators and high-ranking officials who “played an active role in undermining the rule of law and human rights in the country.” Among them are representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Service, the Penitentiary Service, the State Border Service and the presidential administration.
The bill would call on the Biden administration to decide within 180 days on sanctions against the designated group of individuals under US law, including the Global Magnitsky Act.
The adoption of such a bill is explained by “the government’s brutal repression of the opposition and serious concerns about human rights violations in Azerbaijan.”
The authors further highlight that on March 6, 2024, Azerbaijani authorities detained six journalists in Baku and wrongfully accused them of smuggling as part of an ongoing crackdown on independent media in Azerbaijan.
The bill also refers to violations of the rights of Armenian prisoners. This calls into “serious question the Azerbaijani government’s commitment to human rights and ability to negotiate a just and lasting peace,” the document says.
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