Luis Moreno Ocampo: Forced displacement of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s aggression constitutes genocide

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, believes that countries are deliberately ignoring the risk of genocide to avoid the obligation to prevent it.

In an interview with Armenpress, Ocampo said that the forced displacement of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh after the Azerbaijani attack constitutes genocide.

According to Ocampo, states are trying to avoid the word genocide.

“Even when the US Congress took the report and started activities, the US State Department, without mentioning genocide, said they will protect Nagorno Karabakh internationally. But it was too late. They said that, and three days later Aliyev attacked,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo believes that what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh is a genocide as well.
“There is another form of genocide, not only killing. The killing was not massive, but there is mental harm for the community leaving their land.”

“We should fight for gaining respect for the right of the people, because the people, even if they are not there, are still the owners of the land and the place, so their rights must be respected. And I think a different priority is to release the hostages. There are 53 people in jail in Azerbaijan.

We have the International Court of Justice, presumably for states, and there is the International Criminal Court for prosecuting individuals. The legal process for releasing these people is not clear, but we should develop the process politically. That is why this meeting [in the European Parliament] is important,” Ocampo noted.