Armenia hopes French Senate will also criminalize Genocide denial

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia welcomes the French National Assembly's unanimous vote to criminalize the denial of the Genocide, hoping that the Senate will follow suit, Foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said.

French MPs on Friday, July 1 voted unanimously to penalize denial or trivialization of all crimes against humanity, including the Armenian Genocide. The amendment of a previous law, adopted in the first reading, criminalizes denial with one year imprisonment and a €45,000 fine.

“With this move, France will take an important step forward in the prevention of crimes against humanity,” Nalbandian said.

The crimes included in the text are genocides, "other crimes against humanity," "the crime of enslavement and exploitation of an enslaved person" and "war crimes," according to the voted amendment.