French presidential candidate pledges to resume Genocide bill adoption process

PanARMENIAN.Net - French presidential candidate François Hollande representing the Socialist party promised to resume the process of adopting the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in case he is elected.

French TF1 TV channel quotes him as saying that the timing for adopting the bill was not appropriate, and it shouldn’t have been submitted towards the end of presidency term.

“However, this process needs to be resumed, and I undertake the commitment to complete the issue,” French deputy stated.

For his part, Claude Goasguen, representative of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement, chairman of France-Israel friendship group expressed regret for the Constitutional Council’s decision saying that the bill on Holocaust may also be “attacked”, and anything can be said in future in terms of denial.

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.

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.

On February 28, the French Constitutional Council ruled the bill as unconstitutional. The Council justified it by the fact that the law “contradicts Article 33 of the Constitution of France and the freedom of speech”.