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France's Armenia genocide bill faces setback

A French Senate committee rejected the bill that would outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide in a vote on Wednesday. The decision is unlikely to stop the bill from passing on Monday in the final vote.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy stands behind the bill that would punish Armenian genocide deniers
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stands behind the bill that would punish Armenian genocide deniers Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
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The Senate’s Laws Commission rejected the bill on grounds that it was inadmissible, with 23 votes for, nine against and eight abstentions.

On Monday, a plenary session will vote on the commission's decision, however most of the senators likely to oppose the bill are expected to abstain.

The bill is backed by a cross-party majority of lawmakers, but full governmental support remains elusive. Some fear that it could disrupt diplomatic or trade ties with Nato ally, Turkey.

France’s lower house passed the law last month that would punish anyone who denies the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces in 1915. Armenians say that up to 1.5 million people were killed, while Turkey maintains that the number is closer to 500,000.

They say the figures do not amount to genocide but were in the context of World War 1 fighting.

Turkey threatened political and military sanctions on France last month for attempting to push through the new bill, which already recognised the 1915 killings as genocide in 2001. The new legislation would slap a one year jail sentence and a 45,000 euro fine on anyone denying it.

France is home to approximately 500,000 people of Armenian descent.
 

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