PARIS COURT REJECTS LAWSUIT AGAINST TURKISH CONSUL GENERAL
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman Online, Turkey
Nov 9 2006

The Paris Court of Appeals has rejected a lawsuit filed against Aydin
Sezgin, Turkish Consul General to Paris, by an Armenian group for
openly denying the alleged Armenian genocide on the embassy’s website.

The court of appeals upheld on Wednesday the decision previously taken
by a Paris court. The Paris 17th District Court, where the case was
first seen, ruled in 2004 that Sezgin could not be tried due to his
diplomatic immunity. Armenians later took the case to the Supreme
Court of Appeals.

The court’s decision was welcomed by Michel Jeol, lawyer for Consul
General Sezgin.

The lawsuit against Sezgin was delayed twice last month because of
problems with the court’s computer system.

Sources say that the case is merely a ploy by Armenians to keep
pressure in favor of the bill that calls for penalizing those who
deny the so-called Armenian Genocide on the agenda.

Aydin Sezgin’s lawyer had demanded the dismissal of the case on the
grounds of Sezgin’s diplomatic immunity based on the Vienna Convention.