French Council rules Genocide bill as unconstitutional

February 28, 2012 - 20:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The French Constitutional Council ruled the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial as unconstitutional.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against. If signed into law by the President, the bill would 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.

Two separate groups of French politicians who oppose the legislation - from both the Senate and the lower house - said they had formally requested the constitutional council examine the law. The groups said they each had gathered more than the minimum 60 signatures required to ask the council to test the law's constitutionality.

Turkey reacted furiously when the Senate approved the law. Ankara halted political and military cooperation with France and was threatening to cut off economic and cultural ties if the law took effect.

Earlier, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to immediately submit a new draft of a law punishing denial of the Armenian Genocide if France's top judicial body rejects it.