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GREECE PARLIAMENT RATIFIES BILL CRIMINALIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
Jurist
Sept 10 2014
Parliament of Greece [official website] on Tuesday ratified a bill
that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian genocide. The revised
bill is titled "Fight Against Xenophobia," and it was adopted by a
vote of 54-42, with 3 parliament members abstaining from the vote.
With Thursday's vote, Greece joined [Armen press report] Switzerland
and Slovakia to become the third state to criminalize the denial of
the World War I era Armenian genocide [NYT backgrounder]. A violation
[Ria Novosti report] of the new bill is punishable by up to three
years in prison and a fine not to exceed 30,000 Euros. Further,
parties or associations that support racism may be deprived of
government funding for a period of one to six months and receive
fines up to 100,000 Euros.
In recent years, Armenian nationals have fought with the international
community to recognize the killings of 1.5 Armenian citizens that
occurred approximately 100 years ago and allegedly resulted in the
killing of 1.5 million Armenian citizens during World War I, known as
the Armenian genocide [JURIST news archive]. Turkey has long disputed
the numbers, alleging the killings were a result of a civil war that
took place after the collapse of the Ottoman empire. In December 2009,
the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled [JURIST report] that
prosecutions for denying that the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 was a genocide are an attack on freedom of expression.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed [JURIST report] a landmark accord
in Switzerland to normalize relations between the two countries and
open up borders. In 2010, a spokesperson for the US State Department
stated that the Obama administration opposed a vote [JURIST report]
before the House of Representatives on a resolution [HR 252 materials]
branding the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Turkish forces
as genocide.
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/09/greece-parliament-ratifies-bill-criminalizing-armenian-genocide-denial.php
Jurist
Sept 10 2014
Parliament of Greece [official website] on Tuesday ratified a bill
that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian genocide. The revised
bill is titled "Fight Against Xenophobia," and it was adopted by a
vote of 54-42, with 3 parliament members abstaining from the vote.
With Thursday's vote, Greece joined [Armen press report] Switzerland
and Slovakia to become the third state to criminalize the denial of
the World War I era Armenian genocide [NYT backgrounder]. A violation
[Ria Novosti report] of the new bill is punishable by up to three
years in prison and a fine not to exceed 30,000 Euros. Further,
parties or associations that support racism may be deprived of
government funding for a period of one to six months and receive
fines up to 100,000 Euros.
In recent years, Armenian nationals have fought with the international
community to recognize the killings of 1.5 Armenian citizens that
occurred approximately 100 years ago and allegedly resulted in the
killing of 1.5 million Armenian citizens during World War I, known as
the Armenian genocide [JURIST news archive]. Turkey has long disputed
the numbers, alleging the killings were a result of a civil war that
took place after the collapse of the Ottoman empire. In December 2009,
the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled [JURIST report] that
prosecutions for denying that the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 was a genocide are an attack on freedom of expression.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed [JURIST report] a landmark accord
in Switzerland to normalize relations between the two countries and
open up borders. In 2010, a spokesperson for the US State Department
stated that the Obama administration opposed a vote [JURIST report]
before the House of Representatives on a resolution [HR 252 materials]
branding the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Turkish forces
as genocide.
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/09/greece-parliament-ratifies-bill-criminalizing-armenian-genocide-denial.php