{"id":249,"date":"2012-01-23T12:32:37","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T08:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/?p=249"},"modified":"2012-01-24T14:05:54","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T10:05:54","slug":"french-senate-votes-genocide-denial-criminilization-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"French Senate Votes Genocide Denial Criminilization Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>PARIS, France \u2014 The French Senate on Jan. 23 passed a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, despite threats and bullying from the Turkish state. The bill passed with 127 votes for, 86 against.
\nDrafted by French General Assembly member Valerie Boyer, the bill renders denial punishable with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($58,000).
\nIt is slated to be signed into law by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
\nDuring the proceedings, members of the French Senate spoke powerfully and vocally in support of the bill, noting that it\u2019s not directed against any specific country\u2014that it is merely an effort to honor the memory of genocide victims and the struggle against hate speech.
\nThose who opposed the bill did so on the grounds of opposing memorial laws in general, arguing that the Senate is not a courthouse and not a place to legislate history.
\nThe Senate first voted to confirm the constitutionality of the bill. The Senate also voted down four proposed amendments.
\nFrench-Armenian intellectuals and artists\u2014including Charles Aznavour, Serge Avedikian, Simon Abkarian, and Levon Sayan\u2014had each issued a call to the French Senate to pass the bill.
\nCommenting on the vote, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian said, \u201cWe mark this occasion by urging President Obama to honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide and by calling on the U.S. House leadership to allow a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.304,\u201d he added.
\n\"\"<\/a>Thousands of French-Armenians gathered in front of the Senate building to express their support for the bill. The crowd celebrated by singing Armenian national and revolutionary songs (see video<\/a>). On Jan. 18, a French Senate committee rejected the bill. The decision was not binding, however, and the Jan. 23 vote proceeded as scheduled.The bill\u2019s passage did not come as a surprise, as both the left and the right in France had expressed support for it.On Dec. 22, the French General Assembly had approved the bill, prompting Ankara to withdraw its ambassador from Paris, only to have him return a few weeks later.France adopted a bill officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide in 2001.<\/p>\n

Following is a translation of the law:<\/p>\n

LAW PROPOSITION<\/p>\n

Aiming at suppressing the denial of Genocides, acknowledged as such by the law:<\/p>\n

(Final text)<\/p>\n

The Senate at its first hearing has adopted without any modification the law proposition with the following content, adopted by the National Assembly at its first hearing,<\/p>\n

Article 1<\/strong>
\nThe 1st paragraph of the IV chapter of the 29 July 1881 law on the freedom of press is completed by an Article 24 ter composed as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cArt. 24 ter.- The penalties provisioned in Article 24 bis are applicable upon those who by the use of any of the means stated in article 23 contest or minimize in an excessive manner the existence of one or more crimes of genocide defined in the article 211-1 of the penal code and acknowledged as such by the French law.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the court can order the display or the diffusion of the adjudged decision under the conditions provisioned in the article 131-35 of the penal code.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Article 48-2 of the same law is modified as follows:<\/p>\n

1. After the word \u201cdeported\u201d the following words are inserted: \u201c or all the other victims of crimes of genocide, crimes of war, crimes against humanity or of crimes or offences of collaboration with the enemy\u201d,<\/p>\n

2. At the end, the words: \u201cthe infringement provisioned by the article 24 bis\u201d are replaced by the words \u201cthe infringements provisioned in the articles 24 bis and 24 ter\u201d.<\/p>\n

The exact text of the french law<\/p>\n

PROPOSITION DE LOI<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

visant \u00e0<\/em> r\u00e9primer<\/strong> la<\/em> contestation<\/strong> de l’<\/em>existence<\/strong> des<\/em> g\u00e9nocides<\/strong> reconnus<\/em> par la<\/em> loi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(Texte d\u00e9finitif)<\/p>\n

Le S\u00e9nat a adopt\u00e9 sans modification, en premi\u00e8re lecture, la proposition de loi, adopt\u00e9e par l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e nationale en premi\u00e8re lecture, dont la teneur suit\u00a0:<\/p>\n

Voir les num\u00e9ros<\/strong> :<\/p>\n

Assembl\u00e9e nationale<\/strong> (13<\/strong>\u00e8me<\/sup> l\u00e9gisl.)\u00a0:\u00a0 3842<\/strong>, 4035 <\/strong>et T.A. 813<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9nat<\/strong> : \u00a0229<\/strong> et 269<\/strong> <\/strong>(2011-2012).<\/p>\n

Article 1er<\/sup><\/p>\n

Le paragraphe\u00a01er<\/sup> du chapitre\u00a0IV de la loi du\u00a029 juillet 1881 sur la libert\u00e9 de la presse est compl\u00e9t\u00e9 par un article\u00a024\u00a0ter<\/em> ainsi r\u00e9dig\u00e9\u00a0:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Art.\u00a024 <\/em>ter.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Les peines pr\u00e9vues \u00e0 l’article\u00a024\u00a0bis<\/em> sont applicables \u00e0 ceux qui ont contest\u00e9 ou minimis\u00e9 de fa\u00e7on outranci\u00e8re, par un des moyens \u00e9nonc\u00e9s \u00e0 l’article\u00a023, l’existence d’un ou plusieurs crimes de g\u00e9nocide d\u00e9fini \u00e0 l’article\u00a0211-1 du code p\u00e9nal et reconnus comme tels par la loi fran\u00e7aise.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Le tribunal peut en outre ordonner l’affichage ou la diffusion de la d\u00e9cision prononc\u00e9e, dans les conditions pr\u00e9vues \u00e0 l’article\u00a0131-35 du code p\u00e9nal.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Article 2<\/p>\n

L’article\u00a048-2 de la m\u00eame loi est ainsi modifi\u00e9\u00a0:<\/p>\n

1\u00b0\u00a0Apr\u00e8s le mot\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0d\u00e9port\u00e9s\u00a0\u00bb, sont ins\u00e9r\u00e9s les mots\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0,\u00a0ou de toute autre victime de crimes de g\u00e9nocide, de crimes de guerre, de crimes contre l’humanit\u00e9 ou de crimes ou d\u00e9lits de collaboration avec l’ennemi\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0;<\/p>\n

2\u00b0\u00a0\u00c0 la fin, les mots\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0l’infraction pr\u00e9vue par l’article\u00a024\u00a0bis<\/em> \u00bb sont remplac\u00e9s par les mots\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0les infractions pr\u00e9vues aux articles\u00a024\u00a0bis <\/em>et\u00a024\u00a0ter<\/em> \u00bb.<\/p>\n

D\u00e9lib\u00e9r\u00e9 en s\u00e9ance publique, \u00e0 Paris, le 23 janvier\u00a02012.<\/p>\n

Le Pr\u00e9sident,<\/p>\n

Sign\u00e9\u00a0: Jean-Pierre BEL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, France \u2014 The French Senate on Jan. 23 passed a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, despite threats and bullying from the Turkish state. The bill passed with 127 votes for, 86 against. Drafted by French General Assembly member Valerie Boyer, the bill renders denial punishable with a year in jail and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armeniancause.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}