Perincek case not a question of legal recognition or denial of Armenian genocide- president
29.01.2015,
20:10
The case of Dogu Perincek is not a question of legal recognition or denial of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said today during a meeting of a state commission set up for coordinating a series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
YEREVAN, January 29. / ARKA /. The case of Dogu Perincek is not a question of legal recognition or denial of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said today during a meeting of a state commission set up for coordinating a series of events to mark fthe 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
"Armenia is involved in the process as a third party ... For us it is an important decision, because we believe that the denial is the most likely harbinger of such crimes. However, we do not look at this case as a legal recognition or denial of the genocide. We, as a state, representing a people that survived the genocide did not file the appeal with such a request,' said Sargsyan.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday heard an appeal filed by Switzerland against Turkey's Workers' Party chairman Dogu Perincek, who was convicted earlier by a Swiss court of denying the Armenian genocide. Armenia was represented in Strasbourg by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and Geoffrey Robertson. The Strasbourg court will announce its ruling on the case at a later date.
Perincek had earlier won an appeal at the European court against the Swiss court decision to convict him of having branded the Armenian genocide an “international lie” during a series of speeches in Switzerland in 2007. The ECHR said in its December 17, 2013, decision that the politician had exercised his “right to free speech.”
Switzerland, on the other hand, asked the ECHR to review its decision in 2014. -0-
