Doğu Perinçek is a Turkish political activist, and former chair of the Turkish Workers’ Party, was convicted by a Swiss court for statements he made to deny the Armenian genocide, a sentence that he challenged successfully before the European Court of Human Rights, based on free speech rights. In March 2007, a Swiss District court in Lausanne found Perinçek guilty of racial discrimination, following repeated visits to Switzerland in which he publicly denied the Armenian genocide, including a July 2005 speech where he referred to the genocide as “an international lie”. Subsequently, he was fined 3000 Swiss francs and spent 90 days in prison. He was also given a suspended fine of 9,000 Swiss francs and was forced to give a symbolic gift to the Swiss-Armenian organization in the form of 1,000 Swiss francs. Genocide denial is a crime under article 261 of the Swiss penal code, where it states:
Any person who publicly incites hatred or discrimination against a person or a group of persons on the grounds of their race, ethnic origin, or religion, any person who publicly disseminates ideologies that have as their object the systematic denigration or defamation of the members of a race, ethnic group or religion any person who with the same objective organizes, encourages or participates in propaganda campaigns, any person who publicly denigrates or discriminates against another or a group of persons on the ground of their race, ethnic origin or religion in a manner that violates human dignity, whether verbally, in writing or pictorially, by using gestures, through acts of aggression or by other means, or any person who on any of these grounds denies, trivializes or seeks justification for genocide or other crimes against humanity, any person who refuses to provide a service to another on the grounds of that person’s race, ethnic origin or religion when that service is intended to be provided to the general public, is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
Perinçek appealed the verdict, and by June the court had affirmed its decision. He then took the appeal to the Swiss Federal Court, where again the court confirmed the sentence given to Perinçek in December of 2007. He finally and successfully appealed the decision to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The judgment was delivered on December 17th, 2013.
Any person who publicly incites hatred or discrimination against a person or a group of persons on the grounds of their race, ethnic origin, or religion, any person who publicly disseminates ideologies that have as their object the systematic denigration or defamation of the members of a race, ethnic group or religion any person who with the same objective organizes, encourages or participates in propaganda campaigns, any person who publicly denigrates or discriminates against another or a group of persons on the ground of their race, ethnic origin or religion in a manner that violates human dignity, whether verbally, in writing or pictorially, by using gestures, through acts of aggression or by other means, or any person who on any of these grounds denies, trivializes or seeks justification for genocide or other crimes against humanity, any person who refuses to provide a service to another on the grounds of that person’s race, ethnic origin or religion when that service is intended to be provided to the general public, is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
Perinçek appealed the verdict, and by June the court had affirmed its decision. He then took the appeal to the Swiss Federal Court, where again the court confirmed the sentence given to Perinçek in December of 2007. He finally and successfully appealed the decision to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The judgment was delivered on December 17th, 2013.