Reporters Without Borders: Parliamentarians must demand the referral of “genocide bill” to the Council

Reporters Without Borders in Paris urged parliamentarians to refer the bill adopted on Monday to make it a crime to deny Armenian allegations on the Ottoman era incidents of 1915 to the Constitutional Council.

PARIS- A letter by Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, said that parliamentarians must demand the bill’s referral to the Council, because it was against freedom of expression and the constitution.

“There are four key aspects of the law that disturb us: a conflict with the principle of the right to free expression, a lack of proportionality between the offence and penalty, a violation of parliament’s competence and a lack of clarity in the wording,” the letter said.

Referring to the statement made by one of the Council’s previous presidents, Robert Badinter, the letter quoted Badinter as saying: “The French Parliament has not been empowered by the Constitution to determine historical fact.”

The bill penalizes denial of the Armenian allegations with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to approve the legislations within two weeks.

26 January 2012
SOURCE: CUMHURIYET ENGLISH