Tweet
EUROPEAN RIGHTS COURT AGREES TO HEAR SWISS APPEAL ON PERINCEK RULING
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Eurpean Court of Human Rights
STRASBOURG--The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday agreed to
hear an appeal filed by the government of Switzerland of the court's
ruling in December that the denial of the Armenian Genocide was not
a crime, reported the Le Matin newspaper.
The government of Switzerland announced its decision to appeal the
December 17, 2013 decision by the European Court of Human Rights
overturning the conviction of Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian
Genocide, which under Swiss law is a criminal offense.
Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice announced its appeal on March
11. The appeal is asking the ECHR Grand Chamber to clarify the scope
available to Swiss authorities in applying the Swiss Criminal Code to
combat racism. Switzerland created this penal provision, which entered
into force in 1995, to close loopholes in its criminal law and enable
the country to accede to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Under the provisions of the Swiss law, in 2007, Turkish citizen
Perincek was convicted for denying the Armenian Genocide. Failing to
win two appeals against the judgment, Perincek appealed the ECHR,
which on Dec. 17 ruled that the Swiss courts' rulings violated the
appellant's right to freedom of expression.
The ECHR ruling in December stated that "the free exercise of the
right to openly discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial
nature is one of the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression
and distinguishes a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from
a totalitarian or dictatorial regime."
The original case emerged from Perincek's participation in a number
of conferences in Switzerland in 2005, during which he publicly denied
that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against
the Armenian people in 1915.
The Lausanne Police Court found Perincek guilty of racial
discrimination on March 9, 2007, based on the Swiss Criminal Code.
After a complaint filed by the Switzerland-Armenia Association on
July 15, 2005, the court found that Perincek's motives were of a
"racist tendency" and did not contribute to the historical debate.
"The Court underlined that the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature was one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguished
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime," said the official ECHR press release at the time.
"The Court also pointed out that it was not called upon to rule on the
legal characterization of the Armenian genocide. The existence of a
'genocide,' which was a precisely defined legal concept, was not easy
to prove. The Court doubted that there could be a general consensus
as to events such as those at issue, given that historical research
was by definition open to discussion and a matter of debate, without
necessarily giving rise to final conclusions or to the assertion of
objective and absolute truths," added the ECHR release.
"Lastly, the Court observed that those States which had officially
recognized the Armenian genocide had not found it necessary to enact
laws imposing criminal sanctions on individuals questioning the
official view, being mindful that one of the main goals of freedom of
expression was to protect minority views capable of contributing to a
debate on questions of general interest which were not fully settled,"
explained the ECHR in its December ruling.
http://asbarez.com/123721/european-rights-court-agrees-to-hear-swiss-appeal-on-perincek-ruling/
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Eurpean Court of Human Rights
STRASBOURG--The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday agreed to
hear an appeal filed by the government of Switzerland of the court's
ruling in December that the denial of the Armenian Genocide was not
a crime, reported the Le Matin newspaper.
The government of Switzerland announced its decision to appeal the
December 17, 2013 decision by the European Court of Human Rights
overturning the conviction of Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian
Genocide, which under Swiss law is a criminal offense.
Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice announced its appeal on March
11. The appeal is asking the ECHR Grand Chamber to clarify the scope
available to Swiss authorities in applying the Swiss Criminal Code to
combat racism. Switzerland created this penal provision, which entered
into force in 1995, to close loopholes in its criminal law and enable
the country to accede to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Under the provisions of the Swiss law, in 2007, Turkish citizen
Perincek was convicted for denying the Armenian Genocide. Failing to
win two appeals against the judgment, Perincek appealed the ECHR,
which on Dec. 17 ruled that the Swiss courts' rulings violated the
appellant's right to freedom of expression.
The ECHR ruling in December stated that "the free exercise of the
right to openly discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial
nature is one of the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression
and distinguishes a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from
a totalitarian or dictatorial regime."
The original case emerged from Perincek's participation in a number
of conferences in Switzerland in 2005, during which he publicly denied
that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against
the Armenian people in 1915.
The Lausanne Police Court found Perincek guilty of racial
discrimination on March 9, 2007, based on the Swiss Criminal Code.
After a complaint filed by the Switzerland-Armenia Association on
July 15, 2005, the court found that Perincek's motives were of a
"racist tendency" and did not contribute to the historical debate.
"The Court underlined that the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature was one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguished
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime," said the official ECHR press release at the time.
"The Court also pointed out that it was not called upon to rule on the
legal characterization of the Armenian genocide. The existence of a
'genocide,' which was a precisely defined legal concept, was not easy
to prove. The Court doubted that there could be a general consensus
as to events such as those at issue, given that historical research
was by definition open to discussion and a matter of debate, without
necessarily giving rise to final conclusions or to the assertion of
objective and absolute truths," added the ECHR release.
"Lastly, the Court observed that those States which had officially
recognized the Armenian genocide had not found it necessary to enact
laws imposing criminal sanctions on individuals questioning the
official view, being mindful that one of the main goals of freedom of
expression was to protect minority views capable of contributing to a
debate on questions of general interest which were not fully settled,"
explained the ECHR in its December ruling.
http://asbarez.com/123721/european-rights-court-agrees-to-hear-swiss-appeal-on-perincek-ruling/