Perinçek v. Switzerland App. no. 27510/08, 17th December 2013 - genocide denial

Perinçek v. Switzerland App. no. 27510/08, 17th December 2013 (Jacob, White, Ovey): The Court found that as the Armenian genocide was still open to historical interpretation, the comments by the applicant that calling the Armenian massacres “genocide” was an international lie did not incite hatred or violence. Note that the Court distinguished this case from holocaust denial. “The Court thus doubted that there could be a general consensus as to events such as those in issue here, 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. In this connection, the Court clearly distinguished the present case from those concerning the negation of the crimes of the Holocaust. In those cases, the applicants had denied the historical facts even though they were sometimes very concrete, such as the existence of the gas chambers. They had denied the crimes perpetrated by the Nazi regime for which there had been a clear legal basis. Lastly, the acts that they had called into question had been found by an international court to be clearly established.” (p3, press release) 'via Blog this'