Ombudsman's reaction to the groundless and biased 'expert opinion' of the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo

The thoughts contained in the "expert opinion" prepared on the basis of political assignments by the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, are completely groundless and biased.

Thus, L.M. Ocampo, who has already created a relevant image for himself with a confusing and dark past, deliberately made both legal and historical mistakes in his comments against Azerbaijan.

The fact that the activities carried out by Azerbaijan to ensure safety, rights, and freedoms of its citizens, including those of Armenian nationality, within its territories recognized by the UN, and the legitimacy of which was recognized by international and regional organizations, as well as by the International Court of Justice’s relevant decision, have been presented by Mr. Ocampo in a completely distorted form with the aim to mislead the international community, confirms again from which circles he receives the orders.

We would advise the former chief prosecutor of the ICC, who forgets the principle of the Rule of Law, to investigate the Khojaly, Meshali, Bashlibel, and other crimes of genocide that were committed by the Armenians in the recent past, instead of suggesting the possibility of genocide in the Karabakh Economic Region of Azerbaijan with absurd and groundless claims, and to disclose the issues discussed during his reception by the persons involved in the commission of those crimes.

We would like to note with regret that, the main goal of biased opinions failing to express the truth and allowing double standards in relation to Azerbaijan that were reflected in the statements and reports prepared recently by some "international experts", such as the former chief prosecutor of the ICC, L.M. Ocampo, is to create obstacles to ensuring sustainable peace in the region and the integration of the Armenian population of Karabakh into the Azerbaijani society by causing confrontation based on ethnic hatred.

For this reason,  we appeal to the representatives of international organizations as well as independent experts and invite them to study the essence of the issue in depth when conducting research on any conflict, to avoid distorting the existing facts, to refrain from steps that provoke the fake tension in the relations between peoples, and to support the efforts made for the sake of ensuring just peace and sustainable security.

Sabina Aliyeva

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman)

of the Republic of Azerbaijan

August 11, 2023