The ECHR has ruled in favor of Perinçek
Short time ago the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg delivered the judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland in favor of Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek, informs http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/do%C4%9Fu-perin%C3%A7ek_european-court-confirms-perin%C3%A7ek-s-right-to-freedom-of-speech-/41720676 website. According to the decision of the Court, Switzerland violated Doğu Perinçek's right to freedom of speech. By the way, the decision puts to rest a string of legal decisions and appeals in the case of Perinçek vs Switzerland dating back to 2007. Reminder, during the months of May, July and September of 2005, Perinçek participated in three public events in cities of Lausanne, Opfikon and Köniz, Switzerland, in the course of which he publicly denied that mass deportations and massacres suffered by the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards had amounted to genocide. More specifically, he qualified the Armenian Genocide as an “international lie”. On July 2005, the Switzerland-Armenia Association lodged a complaint against Perinçek on account of the content of his statements made at the above-mentioned events. Following this complaint, on 9 March 2007 the Lausanne District Police Court found him guilty of the offence of racial discrimination under Article 261 bis § 4 of the Swiss Criminal Code. The Lausanne District Police Court held that Perinçek’s speech on denial of the Armenian Genocide had racist motives, was nationalistic by its nature and cannot be considered to be within the historical discussion or debate. The Lausanne District Police Court has also mentioned that according to Swiss public opinion the Armenian Genocide is a universally proven event and proven historical fact. With this reasoning the court sentenced Perinçek to imprisonment and fine. Perinçek appealed against the judgment of the Lausanne District Police Court in different instances, but to no avail. In his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, Doğu Perinçek has claimed that his criminal conviction and punishment for having publicly denied the Armenian Genocide was in breach of his right to freedom of expression under Article 10.
