France penalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide

The French Senate adopted, on Monday, January 23, 2012, the bill which aims “at repressing the denial of the genocides recognized by law”. This text, proposed by Mrs. Valerie Boyer (UMP), was previously adopted by the National Assembly on December 22nd.

France has become thus the first European country to transpose in its legislation, the Framework Decision against racism and xenophobia adopted by the Council of the European Union on November 28th, 2008, which considers in particular genocides denial as the most perverse form of racism.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy congratulates the French members of Parliament and senators for their courage facing the pressures and threats of the Turkish government.

Today, when ultranationalist and denialist demonstrations threaten European citizens, it becomes crucial that Human rights organizations, associations fighting racism, xenophobia and denial mobilize to ensure in all European countries a transposition which is in conformity with the EU Framework Decision.