France to set up new genocide unit in Paris court
07.01.2010 13:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ France plans to set up a new panel to try cases of
genocide and crimes against humanity, two ministers said in a
newspaper column published Wednesday.

Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner said legislation would be presented to parliament in the
coming six months to create the new unit within the Paris high court.

The genocide and crimes against humanity unit will be given special
powers to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity that have
occurred outside France’s borders and involve many jurisdictions.

The move will allow the cases to come to court more quickly and
provide ways to address many of the complications that arise from the
serious cases, the ministers argued.

"France, the founding nation of human rights, will never be a
sanctuary for perpetrators of genocide," they wrote in the column
published in the Paris newspaper Le Monde, AFP reported.