SWISS COURT BACKS INITIAL RULING OF SWISS-TURKS CONVICTED OF GENOCIDE DENIAL

Tert.am
15:51 â~@¢ 10.02.10

Yesterday, February 9, Zurich’s Court of Appeal confirmed the initial
verdict of a Swiss district court which ruled that three Swiss
citizens of Turkish descent were guilty of Armenian genocide denial,
writes French-Armenian freelance journalist Jean Eckian.

On 30 June, 2007, the defendants, Ali Mercan, Hasan Kemali and Ethem
Kayali participated in a Turkish nationalist meeting in the Swiss
district of Winterthur organized by Dogu Perincek, leader of the
Turkish Workers’ Party. During the meeting, they declared that the
Armenian Genocide was not a genocide, but an "international lie"
orchestrated by France, the UK and Russian tsarists.

The principal defendant, Ali Mercan, was condemned to a fine of 4,500
CHF (about $4,230 USD), while Hasan Kemali and Ethem Kayali were both
fined 3,600 CHF.

In March 2007, Perincek was similarly found guilty by a Swiss district
court of conscious violation of Swiss laws against genocide denial with
a racist motivation and was fined 12,000 CHF. The verdict was confirmed
by the Vaud cantonal appeal court on June 19 of the same year, and
by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland on December 12, 2007.

Perincek is noted for being the first person to be convicted by a
court of law for denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Sarkis Shahinian, President of the Switzerland-Armenia Association,
was pleased with the latest Swiss court ruling, writes Eckian, noting
that it breaks the Turkey’s chain of denial.