It’s not known when the bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial will be adopted in France
It’s unknown when the bill on “Equality and Citizenship” criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial will come into force in France, although presidency of Francois Hollande is about to end. It should be noted that French president Francois Hollande, yet during his campaign, promised to adopt such a bill, when in February 2012 Constitutional Council of France recognized unconstitutional the law adopted by the two chambers with the grounding of impeding the freedom of speech.
The second attempt was also successful—on October 14 the French Senate adopted the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial with 156 for and 146 against votes. And only on July 2 the bill was adopted in French National Assembly. According to the bill on genocide denial one year in prison and EUR 45 thousand penalty is defined. Denial of all genocides, crime against humanity is enshrined in this law.
However, there are concerns in Armenia and among the Armenian Community in France linked to adopting the bill, as like in the previous case, this time again Turkish lobby of France has the possibility of debating the bill at the Constitutional Council.
Murad Papazian, co-chair of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), told 168.am that there is no clarity regarding final confirmation of the bill. Upon information under his disposal the full bill will be again adopted by French National Assembly, after which only, probably in January, it’ll appear in the Constitutional Court. However, Murad Papazian doesn’t know when hearings will be launched.
To the question whether it’s possible that adoption may be postponed and failed after presidential elections, Papazian replied, “I can’t say, we should see what process the draft will have. We’ll have good news in January.”
It should also be noted that presidential elections in France will be held in April 2017 and there are concerns that the process of adoption of this bill will be suspended with Hollande’s stay in the Office, as during all his political carrier he had close ties with the Armenian Community and promised to adopt such a bill.
By Araks Martirosyan
