France’s Hollande to revive bid to outlaw Armenian Genocide denial

PanARMENIAN.Net - During the annual dinner of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), French President Francois Hollande revived the idea of a law criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide, France-based journalist Jean Eckian told PanARMENIAN.Net

In his speech on Thursday, January 29, the President reportedly said that he had confided to M. Jean-Paul Costa, former President of the European Court of Human Rights, “the mission to look for any solid, indisputable way in our law that would allow protecting the memory of the Armenian Genocide.”

A bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide was adopted by the French Parliament’s lower house on December 22, 2011 and its upper house, the Senate on January 23, 2012. It was, however, declared unconstitutional by France’s highest judicial body, the Constitutional Council, on February 29, 2012.