Judgment Archives

European Armenian Federation welcomes ECHR judgment in Perincek v. Switzerland case

October 15, 2015 By administrator

Bedo Demirdjian, who is in charge of Communications & PR at the European Armenian

The European Armenian Federation welcomes the judgment delivered today by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Perincek v. Switzerland (no. 27510/08)), in which Armenia was also involved as a third party.

Bedo Demirdjian, who is in charge of Communications & PR at the European Armenian Federation, told the correspondent of Panorama.am that especially commendable is the point, under which the upper chamber changes the lower chamber’s decision that the Armenian Genocide is not a subject for discussion there.

“It is especially important that the European Court itself has stated that we the Armenians have the right to protection of dignity and respect. Yes, we are satisfied with the judgment delivered by Europe’s highest court today,” Bedo Demirdjian said.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian justice official hails ECHR judgment in Perincek case

October 15, 2015 By administrator

A deputy prosecutor general of Armenia praises the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the case Perincek vs Switzerland, considering the outcome positive for the Armenian side.
“This ruling is a very good result for Armenia and the Armenians,” Emil Babayan told Tert.am, commenting on the Grand Chamber’s judgment delivered earlier today.
He particularly hailed the statement saying that the ECHR has no authority to make a legally binding pronouncement on a point falling within the logic of criminal law.
“First, it neutralizes the comments of those lower chamber judges who were not inclined to think that the 1915 killings of the Armenians could have amounted to a crime of genocide. The Court ruled that they do not have any authority to issue any conclusion on that point – that the lower chamber’s decision was wrong and could not have any weight or influence,” Babayan noted.
The next important point, he said, was the Chamber’s statement saying that the Armenians have a right to respect the dignity of the ancestors who suffered the Genocide. “That’s a decision of a great importance. It means that the states in Europe can punish the denial of the Armenian Genocide, if [such an act] is calculated to incite violence or disharmony. The idea behind suing Switzerland for the Perincek case was to state that he is just a stool pigeon whose words wouldn’t be taken for granted or inflict damage on anyone. [That’s why the Court ruled] that it was not necessary, in a democratic society, to subject Perincek to a criminal penalty,” he added.
Babayan cited the Chamber’s reassertion of the right to freedom of speech as the next key point in the judgment. “That means that the laws ‘insulting Turkishnes’ [Article 301 of Turkey’s Criminal Code] cannot be applied here as was the case with Hrant Dink and other Turkish and Armenian citizens who are conducting research to study Turkey’s complicity in the Genocide. So Turkey must now stop the violations against freedom of speech,” he added.

ECHR to deliver judgment in Perincek case on October 15

October 12, 2015 By administrator

The European Court of Human Rights will be delivering its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland on Thursday 15 October 2015.

The case concerns the criminal conviction of a Turkish politician for publicly expressing the view, in Switzerland, that the mass deportations and massacres suffered by the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and the following years had not amounted to genocide.

In 2008, a Swiss court had convicted Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian Genocide. In December 2013, the ECHR had ruled in favor of Perincek’s lawsuit that was filed against Switzerland. Subsequently, the Government of Switzerland petitioned that the Dogu Perincek case be referred for a review by the ECHR Grand Chamber.

Separately, Armenia had petitioned to the ECHR, and it now acts as a third party in this case, whose European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber hearing was held on January 28.

Armenia was represented by famous lawyers Geoffrey Robertson, Amal Clooney.

Conference Taner Akçam to AGBU May 28 for his book “Judgment at Istanbul»

May 24, 2015 By administrator

AFAJA – NAZARPEK & AGBU Young have an interview with historian Taner Akçam on the occasion of the release of his book “Judgment at Istanbul,” co-written with Vahakn N. Dadrian.

Published in English and translated for the first time in French by Juliette Thin. Preface and Afterword Chaliand Alexandre and Stéphane Couyoumdjian Mirdikian.

On Thursday, May 28 at 20 pm at the Alex Manoogian Cultural Center AGBU: 118 rue de Courcelles 75017 PARIS (Metro Courcelles)

Translation ensured maintenance – Sales and dedication of the book. Free admission and Cocktail.

Judgment at Istanbul, originally published in English, is first translated into French.

This book – capital item of evidence of what is referred to as the Armenian genocide – recounts the trial of Young Turk leaders held in 1919-1920, when most of them had fled. In this remarkable work the authors, one Turkish, one Armenian, worked together on the archives and documents of the Ottoman era and restore the ambiguity of this pivotal period from 1919 to the victory of Mustafa Kemal.

In this year of commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the French Association of Armenian Lawyers and Jurists (AFAJA), co-chaired by Alexandre Couyoumdjian and the Belgian association of lawyers and jurists Armenians (Abaja), chaired by Stéphane Mirdikian, took the initiative to translate this book.

This book will include support for numerous conferences scheduled in France, Belgium and Switzerland, on the theme of the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust denial and justice. In May 2015, the Turkish sociologist Taner Akcam will come in France at the first symposium organized within this framework. It will be held at the Maison du Barreau, Place Dauphine, under the aegis of the Bar Association of the Bar of Paris on 27 and 28 May.