SWISS APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS CONVICTION OF GENOCIDE DENIERS

2010/02/12 | 10:16

World

The Zurich Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the verdict of a Swiss
district court that found three Swiss citizens of Turkish descent
guilty of denying the Armenian Genocide.

The defendants, Ali Mercan, Hasan Kemahli and Ethem Kayali had
denounced the Armenian Genocide as a pack of lies at a meeting in
2007 in the Swiss district of Winterthur. Mercan is the foreign
representative of the Turkey-based Workers Party, while Kemahli and
Kayali are members of a Turkish-based think tank.

In March 2007, Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Workers Party, 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 Swiss francs (17,000 Turkish Liras).