The key idea of the judgment passed by the Lower Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in “Perincek v. Switzerland” case was that there is no global consensus on the Armenian Genocide. Mr. Ara Ghazaryan, International Law Expert in the interview with Iravaban.net noted that the formation of a global consensus is an important aspect of the recognition of the Genocide by different states.
Mr. Ghazaryan said that when the European Court of Human Rights ruled the decision on “Perincek v. Switzerland” case, around 20 states had already recognized the Genocide. Moreover, in case of some states it was the Parliament or a chamber of the Parliament that had passed it. And the European Court had based its decision on the idea that there is no global consensus on whether the events in 1915 were extermination, displacements, or genocide.
“Now there are significant changes. Half a year has passed after that the verdict, and now the states one after another recognize the 1915 events as genocide,” Ara Ghazaryan said.
On 9 March 2007, the Swiss court convicted under Article 216 of the Criminal Code the Turkish nationalist Dogu Perincek, for the denial of the Armenian Genocide and subjected him to financial and criminal liability. The Court of Appeal of Canton Vaud and the Federal Court of Appeal, the dismissed his appeal against the verdict of March 9.
On 17 December 2013, then competent Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, decided that the Swiss Court had violated Perincek’s right to freedom of speech.
However, the Lower Chamber of the ECHR appealed the ruling and the case was heard by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR; the verdict is expected in the near future.
And now the Grand Chamber of the ECHR in its verdict will evaluate the extent to which a global consensus on this issue is formed.
