{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413394", "Azerbaijani dissident murdered in France in run-up to UN climate change conference in Baku Smith urges Biden-Harris Administration to establish increased protection for Azerbaijanis in the U.S. threatened by escalating transnational repression", "2024-10-21", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "In the wake of the reported murder of outspoken Azerbaijani dissident Vidadi Isgandarli who was brutally beaten and stabbed to death in his house in France, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is urging the Biden-Harris Administration to \u201cestablish a U.S. Government effort to provide increased protection to Azerbaijanis living in the United States who may be in danger of escalating transnational repression in the run-up to next month\u2019s COP29 Climate Change Conference in Baku.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis shocking crime perpetrated against a leading critic of Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev is extremely concerning and has placed Azerbaijanis in the United States on high alert\u2014especially those who are bravely exposing Aliyev\u2019s cruel regime and its egregious human rights violations and large-scale corruption,\u201d said Smith, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris Administration needs to directly address Aliyev\u2019s horrific and heightening transnational repression before it\u2019s too late,\u201d said Smith, the author of the Transnational Repression Policy Act (HR 3654) that would comprehensively enhance the U.S government\u2019s response to foreign governments who target and persecute individuals living in the United States.\n\n\u201cIf top Biden-Harris officials pretend this murder was not intended to intimidate other outspoken Azerbaijanis, they will be responsible for emboldening the perpetrators and increasing the threat to other Azerbaijanis,\u201d said Smith, who has chaired numerous congressional hearings and has visited Azerbaijan on several human rights trips as part of his longtime efforts to advocate for victims of Azerbaijan\u2019s human rights abuses, including ethnic Azerbaijanis and Armenians.\n\nThe murder of Isgandarli follows numerous reports detailing Azerbaijani dissidents who have been targeted and attacked in recent years around the world, including in the U.S., France, Germany and Georgia. In 2020, the Institute for Peace and Democracy noted it had been informed of \u201cconfidential information from Baku about the plans to neutralize the most active critics of the regime living in the West\u201d and a list of individuals that Azerbaijan planned on targeting.\n\nDespite continuing to have one of the most repressive governments in the world, Azerbaijan is slated to host the United Nations\u2019s COP29 Climate Change Conference in November.\n\n\u201cIt is outrageous that the Biden-Harris Administration is giving credence to Azerbaijan\u2019s propaganda that it is a \u2018peacemaker\u2019 and sending a high-level delegation to its COP29 conference while Azerbaijani dissidents in the United States and around the world are being persecuted and even killed for standing up for human rights and democracy,\u201d said Smith, who authored the Azerbaijan Democracy Act in 2015 to promote the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country.\n\n\u201cIn addition to securing the safety of Azerbaijanis here at home, the Biden-Harris Administration should immediately retract its destructive statements about valuing the dictator\u2019s \u2018leadership\u2019 and foolishly saying our countries have \u2018aligned our priorities,\u2019\u201d said Smith, referring to comments made earlier this month by John Podesta, Senior Advisor to President Biden for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413394"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9141936898231506, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}