H.R. 5369 — Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings concerning Azerbaijan's September 19, 2023, military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh—which followed a 10-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor and resulted in the forced displacement of the region's entire Armenian population—as well as alleged war crimes and human rights violations by Azerbaijani officials during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War and subsequently, including extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced disappearances of Armenian civilians and prisoners of war. The section further finds that Azerbaijan continues to illegally detain at least 23 prisoners of war and civilians as of August 2025 (with the true number likely higher), has conducted sham trials of high-ranking Armenian officials since January 2025, expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross in March 2025, and has failed to fulfill obligations under the Geneva Conventions and other international law despite U.S. calls for releases, which would support peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

This section directs the President, not later than 180 days after enactment, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a determination, with detailed justification, on whether any of 53 named Azerbaijani government, military, judicial, prosecutorial, and security officials (listed in subsection (b)) meet the criteria for sanctions under (1) sec. 1263(b) of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (i.e., for serious human rights abuses or significant corruption) or (2) sec. 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (i.e., typically visa restrictions and asset freezes for gross human rights violations). It defines appropriate congressional committees as the specified Senate Foreign Relations, Appropriations, and Banking committees and House Foreign Affairs, Appropriations, and Financial Services committees.