U.S. lawmaker accuses Azerbaijan in near 'assault' at COP29

A U.S. lawmaker critical of COP29 host Azerbaijan said he was nearly assaulted when he attended the climate talks in what he called an orchestrated attack by the government.

"It was no question that if it wasn't for the fact that security that the embassy hired protected me, I would have been in the hospital," Representative Frank Pallone told reporters on his return to Washington on Monday.

Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey who is an outspoken supporter of Azerbaijan's rival Armenia, said he first sensed trouble when he was confronted by hostile and seemingly coordinated questions by local media during the UN-led climate conference taking place in a Baku stadium.

"It was sort of like an exercise in what despots do," Pallone said.

"In Azerbaijan there is no free media. The media is totally controlled by the state," he said.

"You know this was orchestrated by the government. That's what this was all about. In order to make a point that we don't want you here and we don't want you articulating concerns that you have," he said.

Pallone said around 50 "thugs" then waited for him outside his hotel, with the local police refusing to take him through a back entrance but the US embassy-provided security shielding him.

"It was clear that they wanted to assault me," he said.

Pallone said he was told he was unwelcome at a meeting between the US congressional delegation and President Ilham Aliyev, although fellow lawmakers relayed his concerns.

Senator Ed Markey said he also encountered harassment and needed a bodyguard even inside his hotel, although he said Pallone faced worse.

Markey, a Democrat who is a leading climate advocate in the US Congress, accused energy producer Azerbaijan of intensifying repression and "greenwashing" both its climate and human rights record by holding COP29.

"We can't just allow these authoritarian petrostates to ignore both the human rights and the climate threats that have to be addressed in a comprehensive way," Markey said.

Markey said he met a senior advisor to Aliyev and urged a release of political prisoners as well as "good-faith" negotiations with Armenia, a year after Azerbaijan seized back the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev set off an uproar last week by using his COP29 platform to attack France, the Netherlands and the European Union, which have all criticized him.

The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights in a letter published Monday said Azerbaijan has imprisoned activists and journalists merely due to their work and opposition to the authorities.