Issue of ECHR verdict appeal on Perinçek's case in process: Swiss Federal Department of Justice

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS: The Government of Switzerland discusses the issue of appealing against the verdict made by the European Court of Human Rights on the Turkish nationalist figure Doğu Perinçek’s case and will announce about its decision with an official statement. The representative of the Public Relations Department of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police informed Armenpress about it. “The issue, if a demand should be submitted so that the case is sent to the Supreme Chamber, is still in the process. We will inform about the adopted decision with an official statement”, - he said.

Switzerland can submit a counterclaim to the European Court of Human Rights by March 15 2014, demanding to review the verdict of December 17 2013. The ECHR satisfied the claim of the political figure and the leader of the Workers' Party Doğu Perinçek, who was recognized guilty by the Swiss Court for denying the Armenian Genocide. In 2008 the Swiss Court sentenced Perinçek for three-month detention for the denial of the Armenian Genocide and then the Court substituted the detention verdict with an administrative fine. The European Court of Human Rights substantiated the satisfaction of the Perinçek’s claim with the fact that the Swiss Court had violated the 7th and 10th articles on freedom of speech of the European Convention. Though the verdict of the ECHR is full of factual inaccuracies and was not unanimously adopted, as two of the seven judges voted against it.

Perinçek, the leader of a minor Turkish political party, had traveled to Switzerland in 2005 with the intention of daring the Swiss authorities to punish him for denying the Armenian Genocide. He brazenly called the Armenian Genocide an “international lie”. In response to a criminal complaint filed by the Switzerland-Armenia Association, Perinçek was tried and fined for racial discrimination by the Lausanne Police Court in March 2007. A Swiss Appeals Court confirmed his sentence, ruling that he had violated Article 261bis of the Criminal Code. The National Council (parliament) of Switzerland had already recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2003. Perinçek then appealed his case to the Federal Tribunal, the highest court in Switzerland, which reconfirmed his sentence.