Azerbaijan’s Other Unregistered Agent in Washington?
On May 3rd, the Department of Justice charged Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife Imelda Cuellar for accepting bribes in exchange for influencing U.S. foreign policy in Azerbaijan. According to the indictment, Cuellar—referred to as “boss” by his Azerbaijani handler—coordinated efforts to shoot down legislation that supported U.S. cooperation with separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. But Cuellar may not have been the only one doing Azerbaijan’s bidding in Washington without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The international community has largely acquiesced to Azerbaijan’s claims over Nagorno-Karabakh, after a lightning-quick military offensive that displaced some 120,000 Karabakh Armenians. But this didn’t happen in a vacuum. Facing allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing due to their blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan needed credibility under international law to build support. In August of 2023, they zeroed in on their man in leading international legal expert Rodney Dixon, a barrister at Temple Garden Chambers.
Dixon is no stranger to high-profile cases, having represented Al Jazeera after the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the government of Afghanistan in proceedings before the International Criminal Court. Azerbaijan commissioned Dixon to publish a report in an attempt to absolve Azerbaijan of genocide in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Dixon promoted the report in the media, including doing a TV interview with the BBC and giving an advance copy to CNN. The Friedlander Group, a lobbying firm representing Azerbaijan, coordinated meetings between Dixon and more than 50 government officials on Capitol Hill the very same week that Azerbaijan kicked off its military offensive. In the meetings, Dixon promoted his report refuting the allegation of genocide, and did not respond to a suggestion from a Hill staffer to use his influence to ask Azerbaijan to lift their blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh.