European Court of Human Rights: : Perinçek v. Switzerland

• Autores: Dirk Voorhoof
• Localización: IRIS: Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory, ISSN-e 1023-8565, Nº. 1, 2016
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • On 17 December 2013 the Second Section of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled by five votes to two that Switzerland violated the right to freedom of expression by convicting Doğu Perinçek, chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party, for publicly denying the existence of the genocide against the Armenian people (IRIS 2014-2/1 and IRIS 2014-7/2). After referral, on 15 October 2015 the Grand Chamber confirmed by ten votes to seven the finding of a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In several public speeches, Perinçek had described the Armenian genocide as “an international lie”. The Swiss courts found that Perinçek’s denial that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against the Armenian people in 1915 and the following years, was in breach with Article 261bis § 4 of the Swiss Criminal Code. This article punishes inter alia the denial, gross minimisation or attempt of justification of a genocide or crimes against humanity. According to the Swiss courts, the Armenian genocide, like the Jewish genocide, is a proven historical fact. Relying on Article 10 ECHR, Perinçek complained before the European Court that his criminal conviction and punishment for having publicly stated that there had not been an Armenian genocide had breached his right to freedom of expression.