The European Court of Human Rights on Dec. 17, 2013 found that the right of Doğu Perinçek to freedom of expression had been violated when a court in Switzerland found him guilty of racial discrimination for publicly denying that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against the Armenian people in 1915 and the following years.

Perinçek had described the idea of an Armenian genocide as an “international lie”.

In its ruling, (Perinçek v. Switzerland) the European Court found that Mr. Perinçek, who during various conferences in Switzerland, had described the Armenian genocide as an “international lie”, had not committed an abuse of his rights within the meaning of Article 17 of the Convention.

The Court underlined that the free exercise of the right to openly discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature was one of the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguished a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or dictatorial regime.

The Court also pointed out that it was not called upon to rule on the legal characterization of the Armenian genocide. The existence of a “genocide”, which was a precisely defined legal concept, was not easy to prove. The Court doubted that there could be a general consensus as to events such as those at issue, given that historical research was by definition open to discussion and a matter of debate, without necessarily giving rise to final conclusions or to the assertion of objective and absolute truths.

Lastly, the Court observed that those States which had officially recognized the Armenian genocide had not found it necessary to enact laws imposing criminal sanctions on individuals questioning the official view, being mindful that one of the main goals of freedom of expression was to protect minority views capable of contributing to a debate on questions of general interest which were not fully settled.

After Perinçek made his public statements, the association “Switzerland-Armenia” filed a criminal complaint against him on 15 July 2005.

Mr. Perinçek lodged an appeal that was dismissed by the Criminal Cassation Division of the Vaud Cantonal Court. In that court’s view, the Armenian genocide, like the Jewish genocide, was a proven historical fact, recognized by the Swiss legislature on the date of the adoption of Article 261bis of the Criminal Code.

The courts did not therefore need to refer to the work of historians in order to accept its existence. The Cassation Division emphasized that Mr Perinçek had only denied the characterization as genocide without calling into question the existence of the massacres and deportations of Armenians. The Federal Court dismissed a further appeal by Mr. Perinçek in a judgment of 12 December 2007.

P.S. The CCAF (Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France) has launched a petition against the ECHR decision. It also calls on the Swiss authorities to lodge an appeal against this judgement before the Grand Chamber of the ECHR.

http://www.mesopinions.com/petition/justice/negationnisme-petition-contre-arret-scelerat-cour/11217