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PROSECUTION FOR DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNJUSTIFIED, COURT RULES
United Press International UPI
Dec 18 2013
Dec. 17, 2013 at 6:09 PM
STRASBOURG, France, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Prosecuting someone for denying
Turkey's 1915 massacre of Armenians is an attack on freedom of
expression, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by the court in Strasbourg, France, is a response to a
2007 case in Lausanne, Switzerland, in which Dogu Pernicek, leader
of the leftist Turkish Workers Party, was found guilty of "denying
the Armenian genocide for racist motives."
Denial of genocide is a violation of Switzerland's anti-racism law.
Pernicek's testimony did not deny the massacres of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled Turkey during World War I, the human
rights court said, but noted he was active at conferences in which
he described the Ottoman Empire's alleged genocidal motives as an
"international lie."
The judgment came as the French newspaper Le Monde reported a law
banning denial of the Armenian genocide, an election promise of
President Francois Hollande, will be sent to the French Parliament
within months.
A similar French law, passed in 2011 to the anger of Turkey, was
declared unconstitutional, Radio France Internationale reported.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/12/17/Prosecution-for-denying-Armenian-genocide-unjustified-court-rules/UPI-14961387321779/
United Press International UPI
Dec 18 2013
Dec. 17, 2013 at 6:09 PM
STRASBOURG, France, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Prosecuting someone for denying
Turkey's 1915 massacre of Armenians is an attack on freedom of
expression, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by the court in Strasbourg, France, is a response to a
2007 case in Lausanne, Switzerland, in which Dogu Pernicek, leader
of the leftist Turkish Workers Party, was found guilty of "denying
the Armenian genocide for racist motives."
Denial of genocide is a violation of Switzerland's anti-racism law.
Pernicek's testimony did not deny the massacres of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled Turkey during World War I, the human
rights court said, but noted he was active at conferences in which
he described the Ottoman Empire's alleged genocidal motives as an
"international lie."
The judgment came as the French newspaper Le Monde reported a law
banning denial of the Armenian genocide, an election promise of
President Francois Hollande, will be sent to the French Parliament
within months.
A similar French law, passed in 2011 to the anger of Turkey, was
declared unconstitutional, Radio France Internationale reported.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/12/17/Prosecution-for-denying-Armenian-genocide-unjustified-court-rules/UPI-14961387321779/