Former Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, Artak Beglaryan, has urged the U.S. Congress to officially recognize the genocide perpetrated against the people of Artsakh, characterizing it as a continuation of the Armenian Genocide.

Speaking during a hearing organized by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Beglaryan also called for sanctions against Azerbaijani officials involved in the atrocities and for U.S. aid to Azerbaijan to be conditional on measurable human rights improvements, including the release of Armenian hostages.

He stressed the need for diplomatic pressure on Baku to ensure the safe return of displaced Artsakh Armenians under a robust system of international guarantees.

"Over the past three years, Azerbaijan successfully executed a full-scale genocide against my people—Armenians of Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh," Beglaryan said. "It was not a sudden tragedy, but a deliberate and systematic campaign, involving an effective blockade and starvation, military assaults, killings of civilians, unlawful abductions and imprisonments of our leaders and fellow citizens, destruction of cultural heritage, and many other mass atrocities."

The hearing also examined serious human rights violations by the Aliyev regime, including ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, the detention of 23 Armenian captives, over 300 political prisoners, widespread corruption, attacks on independent journalists, and media suppression.

Among the speakers was Jared Genser, international counsel for former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan. He argued that President Ilham Aliyev must be held accountable for the repression of Vardanyan, whose sole "crime," he said, was defending the right to self-determination for Artsakh’s Christian Armenian population. Genser noted that Vardanyan was even denied access to the Bible in Azerbaijani custody.

"It's encouraging that senior Trump administration officials told President Aliyev that Armenian Christian prisoners must be released under a peace agreement," Genser said. "But dictators never free prisoners just because they're asked. They only do it when forced."

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack on Artsakh, leading to a surrender the following day under terms imposed by Baku. The Artsakh Defense Army was disarmed, and the Republic of Artsakh was dissolved. Over 100,000 Armenians were forcibly displaced to Armenia, and only a handful remained. The dissolution decree, signed by President Samvel Shahramanyan, came into effect on January 1, 2024.