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|---|---|
| Court | European Court of Human Rights |
| Decided | 17 December 2013 |
Perinçek v. Switzerland is a 2013 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights(ECHR) concerning the freedom of expression of Doğu Perinçek, a one time Chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party who was convicted following comments denying the Armenian Genocide. The case is before the Grand Chamber after Switzerland's appeal with a hearing scheduled in January 2015.
Background
Doğu Perinçek is a Turkish political activist who has repeatedly called the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1917 a lie on his visits to Switzerland. In 2007 he was found guilty by a Swiss court for denying the Armenian Genocide in violation of Swiss anti-racism legislation. He was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment and fined 3000 Swiss francs.
Judgment
In December 2013 the European Court of Human Rights ruled by 5-2 that Switzerland had violated Doğu Perinçek's freedom of expression.
Appeal
After the ruling the government of Switzerland announced its decision to appeal the court’s ruling. On 3 June 2014 the ECHR accepted the appeal to move on to the Grand Chamber to clarify the scope available to Swiss authorities in applying the Swiss Criminal Code to combat racism.
The first hearing took take place on 28 January 2015 with Armenia represented as a third party by Doughty Street Chambers led by Geoffrey Robertson QC and Amal Clooney. The Court's subsequent deliberations will be held in private, with its findings published later. A video of the first hearing of the appeal can be found on the website of the European Court for Human Rights.
Reaction
Positive
Professor Dirk Voorhoof of Ghent University wrote a positive critique of the judgment and argues that it "would certainly be a sad day for freedom of expression in Europe" if the judgment was successfully appealed to the Grand Chamber.
Doğu Perinçek was released at March 10th 2014, by courtesy of the judgement of Grand National Assembly of Turkey on lawlessness of Private Criminal Courts.
Critical
The Armenian writer Harut Sassounian writing for the Asbarez Newspaper states "The Court’s verdict, as it stands, is an endorsement of the denialist stance of both Turkey and Perincek, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Turkish jail for engaging in criminal activity!".
See also
References
- "Case Law, Strasbourg: Perinçek v. Switzerland, conviction for denying the Armenian "genocide" breaches Article 10 – Dirk Voorhoof – Inforrm's Blog". inforrm.wordpress.com. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- "Conviction for denial of Armenia genocide - humanrights.ch". humanrights.ch. 2011-01-12. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
- European Rights Court Agrees to Hear Swiss Appeal on Perincek Ruling. Asbarez. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014
- Völkermord-Urteil wird überprüft. (German) Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014
- Squires, Nick (12 January 2015). "Amal Clooney takes on Armenia genocide case in European court". The Daily Telegraph.
- Malm, Sara. "It's Amal versus the genocide-deniers: Mrs Clooney leads Euro-court fight for Turkish MP to be prosecuted for calling death of 1.5million Armenians 'a lie'". The Daily Mail.
- "Switzerland Must Appeal European Court's Verdict on the Armenian Genocide | Asbarez Armenian News". asbarez.com. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
External links
- ECHR Judgment (French)
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