Genocide bill author: I will fight to the end

February 1, 2012 - 00:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The author of the French bill criminalizing genocide denial, UMP party member Valerie Boyer says she is not surprised by the decision of some senators to appeal the motion at the constitutional council.

"Even if this is not a surprise, I am disappointed to see that some parliamentarians prefer legalism to humanism," Ms. Boyer said in a Facebook post.

"Although I respect their decision, since it is their right, I share the pain of the families that the memory of the victims is once again proven by this procedure. For me, the pressure exerted by a foreign State denial should not outweigh a universal cause, on the defence of human rights and the size of the France. But the mass is not yet known. It is now up to the constitutional experts to hear their arguments and I know that many to plead for the constitutionality of the text," she said.

"Anyway, I remained convinced that it is not admissible on French territory that the memory of the victims of genocides recognized by the France is not protected in the same way! It is unequal treatment and cruel perfectly unacceptable discrimination against which I will fight to the end," the MP said.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against. To be signed into law within 14 days, the bill will impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.