Foreign

Home page

Foreign

French Constitutional Council member: Armenian genocide has never been the subject of a court decision

31 January 2014 09:47 (UTC +04:00)

Paris. Viktoria Dementeva – APA. “Constitutional Council of France considers that the law criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide contradicts the country's Constitution, as it restricts discussions among historians," member of the Constitutional Council of France Guy Canivet told APA. He said memorial laws were passed several times in the history of France, these laws determine how to speak and think about painful events faced by peoples and communities in France.

“Such a law has been adopted on the Jewish genocide. This law has not been examined by the Constitutional Council, because no one filed a complaint against the document. The Constitutional Council rejected the law passed by the French Parliament envisaging minor criminal liability for written denial of Armenian genocide, as it contradicted the principle of freedom of expression in the Constitution. We thought why free public discussion of a historical fact should be banned. It restricts debates among historians," he said.

Guy Canivet also touched on the difference between the Jewish genocide and the so-called "Armenian genocide" claims. He said the Jewish genocide is a historical fact recognised by the court and is reflected in the decision of Nuremberg court.

“We have determined that the Armenian genocide has never been the subject of a court decision, nor has been investigated by a local or international court. It does not mean that if a court hearing was not held, such a fact did not happen. But we have reviewed the issue and come to a conclusion that the historical context within which it happened has not been clarified sufficiently, for now from various historical aspects, it can become the subject of dispute. There is no unique, exact, clear decision recognized by all. Therefore, we have decided that it would be better to give free rein to the historians regarding historical studies, documents, researches and publications.
Member of the Constitutional Council said that once the law caused tense debates in the public and parliament.
"Therefore, we have decided that this issue can not be closed, the issue has not been clarified," he said.
Touching on the possibility of repeated discussion and adoption of a similar law by the French Parliament, Guy Canivet did not rule out the adoption of a new resolution.

“In its decision the Constitutional Council has left the door for the parliament. If the parliament decides after discussions that such a law must be adopted, no one can block it. The Parliament has the right to adopt not only laws, but also resolutions. But a resolution is not a normative act, it is something like a statement. We have stated that they adopt such a resolution, but it can not be applied as a legal norm to the persons objecting to this resolution, they can not be brought to criminal liability."

Valerie Boyer, the author of the law criminalizing the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", has said she will work out a new bill and submit it to the parliament.