French Senators lack votes to protest Genocide bill

January 26, 2012 - 14:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - French Senators have only 48 hours left to protest the bill penalizing Armenian Genocide denial at Constitutional Court.

By now, the number of French MPs protesting the bill has reached 35, with Turkish-French friendship group chair, the Union for a Popular Movement (UPM) member Michel Diefenbacher, other UPM members and some oppositional Socialists among the malcontent.

With 60 parliamentarians necessary to appeal to the Constitutional Court, experts are skeptical the necessary number of supporters will be reached.

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.