Former Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo: Blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan is Genocide

The blockade of the Lachin corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials to Nagorno-Karabakh is in the media since December 2022, and it is discussed by political leaders. This is noted in a statement by the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, who issued a report on Nagorno-Karabakh.

“My contribution is to explain why it should be considered a Genocide against the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: ‘Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction,’” Ocampo wrote.

“There are no crematories, and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks,” he noted.

“In many respects, the starvation of the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh represents the archetype of genocide through the imposition of conditions of life designed to bring about a group’s destruction. It closes a tragic circle because ‘[t]he treatment of the Armenians by the Turkish rulers in 1915 provides the paradigm for the Genocide provision dealing with imposition of conditions of life,” Ocampo added.

“As an individual with some experience in the field, I was honored to make my contribution providing an impartial report and I am ready to assist any party committed to prevent the destruction of the Armenian group in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court emphasized in his statement.