The necessity for a legislative initiative criminalizing the denial for the Armenian Genocide was discussed at the meeting between Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne and the Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Galust Sahakyan.
“That is important in of view of the circumstance that a hundred years later the commemoration and condemnation of the genocide victims are actual today since the repetition of genocides are still a threat for the humanity,” Speaker of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan stated during the joint press statement on Tuesday in Yerevan.
Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne informed that her official visit to Armenia had been planned earlier, yet the Brussels terrorist attacks in March postponed the visit.
Mrs. Defraigne next stated that Belgium Senate was among the first European Parliaments that adopted ‘a strong resolution’ in 1988 condemning the Armenian Genocide.
“We have started initiatives aimed at criminalizing the Genocide denial long before. The denial should be qualified as a crime, a criminal act. We couldn’t realize our goal then, yet I think that through adoption of the relevant resolutions at the level of different Belgian parliaments condemning the Genocide, we will fulfill our goal,” Christine Defraigne stressed, adding the idea is not about a parliament dictating a history, but rather giving an opportunity for the current generation to learn about that tragic event and once and for all condemn all genocidal acts.