PARIS—French Parliament member Valérie Boyer, a representative of the Bouches-du-Rhône Department and five other parliament members representing the Union for a Popular Movement party introduced a new resolution that would criminalize the denial of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Paris-based Nouvelle d’Arménie.
The bill was drafted jointly with the Armenian attorney, Philip Grigorian, who worked on the previous iteration of the bill.
This legislation is based on the European Parliament’s Genocide and military crimes’ denial penalization clause. The new measure carries a two-year prison term and a fine of 45,000 Euros for anyone denying a crime of genocide.
The previous bill was approved by the Senate last year, but the French Constitutional Council ruled it unconstitutional.
French President Francois Hollande pledged that he would support a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
“Wouldn’t a bill introduced by the same person meet the same fate, despite assurances by President Hollande, who like his predecessor, pledged to support such a measure?” wondered the political director of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Giro Manoyan in response to a question from report.am.
Manoyan explained that the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organization in France (CCAF), which includes the ANC of France believes that it would be counter-intuitive if the bill is introduced by the opposition to avoid the politicization of the issue.
The CCAF, Manoyan added, is working on a draft that addresses the concerns put forth by the Constitutional Court, which called the initial measure unconstitutional.
“The coordinating body wants to work with Elysee Palace and the presidential staff directly to ensure that the French President would honor his promise,” said Manoyan.
Wishing the French good luck this time!
Sarkzy proved to de a procrastinator, betraying his opportunistic mien. Hollande is very much like Sarkozy, a singer on the day . It remains to be seen how far it will go.
Veronique Boyer is a well intentionned and true friend of armenians
Nevertheless,she along with other friends of armenia like Sherman or Berman(correct me if i am wrong) that promised us to cut military aid to azerbeyjian must accord their violins with their governments’true position.
In fact while we are given constant lip service, while last week the azercosmos had a” communication “satellite put into orbit by none other than the french Arianne . the” communication “satellite made in the u.s.a.
For those of you that do not know how satellites are used in modern warfare keep believing it is a “communucations”satellite. I suppose it all depends on what your definition of “communucation”is.
The perfect timing :while armenians are blinded by the elections.
The event reported by french russian site http://www.rian.ru only.
sorry, i meant to say Valerie not Veronique!
I support Valérie Boyer .
Today’s Zaman says: ”French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says his country and Turkey have reached an agreement to open Chapter 22 in the EU acquis communautaire for Turkey,……… the French foreign minister said the two countries agreed to open Chapter 22 titled “Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments” for Turkey’s EU membership bid.” WATCH OUT Armenians, make sure this move of Genocide issue is not for pressuring Turkey for Frances own interests and not Armenian’s. Betrayal in the air
Mme. Boyer is “Maître des cérémonies” again, and I wonder which band will play Turkish wedding dance in Paris and Ankara this time??
Let’s see if president Hollande has any backbones!
Boyer needs to get a life and get a hold of herself.
Finally, I see rational and unemotional comments by my fellow Armenians who refuse to say Vive la France, Viva Russia and … illogical things like that.
Hopefully, after two centuries we are learning that there are no friends in human relations and politics. There’re just National interests.
Dont hold your breath.
If the resolution text is the same (as stated in the news articles) as the previous unsuccessful attempt, then the French Constitutional Court would have little problem to stop if once more. That is, IF the bill gets the needed votes, keeping in mind that the Parliament now is aware of what’s waiting in the CC.
So, why submit an identical text, when you could adjust it to be in par with the same legislation as the one pertaining to the Holocaust? Nothing has changed in the political landscape. And why does the French CC deem the denial of the Armenian genocide against freedom of speech while denial of the Jewish genocide is not?
Seems like a contra productive step and undermines the necessity of a proper and official recognition.