No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8141 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8141
To provide for a review of sanctions with respect to Azerbaijan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 26, 2024
Ms. Titus (for herself, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Norton, Mr.
McClintock, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Gottheimer, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Cardenas,
Mr. Valadao, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Costa, Mr. Auchincloss,
Ms. Meng, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Pappas, Ms. Lee of California,
Mr. Lawler, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Amo, Mr. Menendez, and
Mr. Sherman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for a review of sanctions with respect to Azerbaijan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act of
2024''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military
assault on Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in the forced
displacement of the region's entire Armenian population
following a 10-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which
deprived Armenian civilians access to food, fuel, medicine and
other essential goods.
(2) Azerbaijan's blockade and forced displacement of
Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians followed a major escalation of the
conflict during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which
Azerbaijani military and government officials named in section
2(b) have committed war crimes and serious human rights
violations, including the extrajudicial killing of Armenian
civilians and prisoners of war; the arbitrary detention, forced
disappearances, and torture of Armenian civilians and prisoners
of war and other captives; and the deliberate targeting of
civilian populations.
(3) Azerbaijan's continued detainment, torture,
extrajudicial execution, and other serious human rights
violations against prisoners of war and captured civilians
calls into serious question their commitment to human rights
and ability to negotiate an equitable, lasting peace
settlement.
(4) Reporting conducted in September 2022 by the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
expressed deep concern over ``[a]llegations of severe and grave
human rights violations committed during the 2020 hostilities
and beyond by Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of
war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national
origin--including extrajudicial killings, torture and other
ill-treatment and arbitrary detention''.
(5) The Department of State's Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices released in April 2024 documented ``credible
reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killing; torture and cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by members of the
security forces; harsh and sometimes life-threatening prison
conditions; arbitrary detention;'' and other concerns regarding
the lack of due process in Azerbaijani trials of Armenian
civilians and servicemembers.
(6) Human rights organizations have consistently reported
on Azerbaijan's abuse of prisoners of war and other human
rights violations, including a report by Human Rights Watch in
March 2021 that found Azerbaijani forces had abused ethnic
Armenian prisoners of war and subjected them to ``cruel and
degrading treatment and torture either when they were captured,
during their transfer, or while in custody at various detention
facilities''.
(7) In December 2021, an International Court of Justice
ruling ordered Azerbaijan to protect from violence and bodily
harm Armenians detained during and since the 2020 Nagorno-
Karabakh War.
(8) At least 90 prisoners of war and hostages are still
detained illegally by Azerbaijan as of November 2023 according
to the Armenian Government, with independent observers noting
that the true number of detainees is likely much higher given
the many individuals still missing, and the limited information
available due to Azerbaijan's misrepresentation of their status
in an attempt to justify their continued captivity.
(9) Following Azerbaijan's offensive in 2023, numerous
high-ranking Armenian officials in Nagorno-Karabakh were
arrested and detained by Azerbaijan, including Ruben Vardanyan,
Davit Manukyan, Davit Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Arkadi
Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, and Davit
Ishkhanyan.
(10) International humanitarian law requires parties to an
international armed conflict to treat prisoners of war humanely
in all circumstances.
(11) It is a war crime to willfully kill, mistreat, or
torture prisoners of war, or to willfully cause great suffering
or serious injury to body or health.
(12) In addition to being bound by customary international
law, Azerbaijan is a party to the Geneva Conventions, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which
strictly forbid extrajudicial killings.
(13) Despite its international legal obligations under the
Geneva Conventions and repeated calls by the United States
Government, Azerbaijan has not released all relevant persons
and instead continues to detain new prisoners of war, hostages,
and captured civilians, nor have those responsible for serious
human rights violations and war crimes faced legal
consequences.
(14) Azerbaijan's brutal repression of domestic political
opposition is of grave concern for the human rights of
Azerbaijanis.
(15) The detention and subsequent torture and ill-treatment
of opposition leaders, activists, and critics of the Aliyev
government like Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, a prominent scholar who
taught in the United States and was recently released to house
arrest, raises fundamental concerns about due process and the
integrity of the legal proceedings against him and others who
express political dissent in Azerbaijan.
(16) On March 6, 2024, Azerbaijani authorities detained six
journalists in Baku and accused them of unfounded smuggling
charges as part of an ongoing crackdown on independent media in
Azerbaijan.
(17) Azerbaijan is designated as ``Not Free'' by Freedom
House due to the absence of political rights, civil liberties,
and rule of law.
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO AZERBAIJAN.
(a) Determination.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a determination, including a detailed
justification, of whether any person listed in subsection (b) meets the
criteria for the imposition of sanctions pursuant to--
(1) section 1263(b) of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights
Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note); or
(2) section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.
(b) Persons Listed.--The persons listed in this subsection, which
includes officials of Republic of Azerbaijan, are the following:
(1) Lieutenant General Hikmat Izzat oglu Mirzayev,
Commander of the Special Forces.
(2) Lieutenant Colonel Elgun Aliyev, Chief of the Military
Police.
(3) Colonel Elshan Sanaev, Commander of Azerbaijani
Military 218th Commando Brigade.
(4) Lieutenant General Anvar Afandiyev, Commander of
Azerbaijani Ground Forces.
(5) Major General Jeyhun Hasanov, Penitentiary Service of
the Ministry of Justice.
(6) Ali Naghiyev, Chief of State Security.
(7) Samir Nuriyev, Chief of Staff to President Aliyev.
(8) Fuad Alasgarov, Assistant to the President for Law
Enforcement and Military Affairs.
(9) Orhan Samadov, Office of the General Prosecutor.
(10) Vugar Guliyev, Office of the General Prosecutor.
(11) Ziya Masurov, Office of the General Prosecutor.
(12) Parviz Mirhashimov, Office of the General Prosecutor.
(13) Babakhan Hasanaliyev, Office of the General
Prosecutor.
(14) Hamza Eldar Akbar oglu, Office of the General
Prosecutor.
(15) Alakbarov Valeh Hasan oglu, Office of the General
Prosecutor.
(16) Faiq Qaniyev, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(17) Mirza Khankishiyev, Judge at Baku Court on Grave
Crimes.
(18) Ilham Mahmudov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(19) Eldar Ismayilov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(20) Javid Huseynov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(21) Samir Aliyev, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(22) Azad Madjidov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(23) Zeynal Agayev, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(24) Sabuhi Huseynov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(25) Afgan Hajiyev, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(26) Telman Huseynov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(27) Ali Mammadov, Judge at Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
(28) Vusal Gurbanov, Narimanov District Court Judge.
(29) Kamranov Hafiz, Narimanov District Court Judge.
(30) Yusif Yusifov, Chief Investigator of the Investigation
Department for Combating Organized Crime, Ministry of Internal
Affairs.
(31) Abbasov Mirzali Abdulali oglu, Baku Court of Appeals.
(32) Major General Abulfat Rzayev, Main Organized Crime
Department, Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(33) Mammadov Elchin, First Deputy Prosecutor General.
(34) Lieutenant Fuad Rafael oglu Nabiyev, Azerbaijan
Ministry of Defence.
(35) Elchin Guliyev, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(36) Ilham Mehdiyev, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(37) Vusal Sultanov, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(38) Azad Alakbarov, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(39) Ismayil Akbarov, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(40) Ramin Bagirov, State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
(41) Lieutenant Colonel Elgun Aliyev, Military Police
Department of the Ministry of Defence.
(42) Karim Valiyev, Chief of the General Staff of the
Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
(43) Nemat Avazov, Director of the Investigation
Department, Office of the Prosecutor General.
(44) Tagiyev Azer Heydar oglu, Nasimi District Court Judge.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this Act, the
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on
Appropriations, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on
Appropriations, and the Committee on Financial Services of the
House of Representatives.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line