EU AIMS TO CRIMINALISE HOLOCAUST DENIAL

FT
April 17 2007 19:56

Laws that make denying or trivialising the Holocaust a criminal
offence punishable by jail sentences will be introduced across the
European Union, according to a proposal expecting to win backing from
ministers Thursday.

Offenders will face up to three years in jail under the proposed
legislation, which will also apply to inciting violence against ethnic,
religious or national groups.

Diplomats in Brussels voiced confidence on Tuesday that the
controversial plan, which has been the subject of heated debate for
six years, will be endorsed by member states. However, the Baltic
countries and Poland are still holding out for an inclusion of
"Stalinist crimes" alongside the Holocaust in the text – a move that
is being resisted by the majority of other EU countries.

The latest draft, seen by the Financial Times, will make it mandatory
for all Union member states to punish public incitement "to violence
or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such
a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or
national or ethnic origin".

They will also have to criminalise "publicly condoning, denying or
grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes" when such statements incite hatred or violence against
minorities.

Diplomats stressed the provision had been carefully worded to include
only denial of the Holocaust – the Nazi mass murder of Jews during
the second world war – and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

They also stressed that the wording was designed to avoid criminalising
comical plays or films about the Holocaust such as the Italian comedian
Roberto Benigni’s prize-winning Life is Beautiful . The text expressly
upholds countries’ constitutional traditions relating to the freedom
of expression.

Holocaust denial is already a criminal offence in several European
countries, including Germany and Austria. It is not a specific crime
in Britain, though UK officials said it could already be tackled
under existing legislation.

In an attempt to assuage Turkish fears, several EU diplomats said the
provisions would not penalise the denial of mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman troops in the aftermath of the 1915 collapse of the Ottoman
empire. Turkey strongly rejects claims that this episode amounted
to genocide.

The proposal draws what is likely to be a controversial distinction
between inciting violence against racial or ethnic groups and against
religious groups. Attacks against Muslims, Jews or other faiths will
only be penalised if they go on to incite violence against ethnic or
racial groups, the draft text states.