French constitutional council overturns genocide bill

France's Constitutional Council overturned yesterday a controversial bill that would criminalize the denial of mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago, declaring the bill unconstitutional. In a statement, the Council ruled that the law ran against principles of freedom of expression incorporated into France's founding documents. The bill was approved in both houses of the French parliament in January, sparking angry protests from Turkey, which denies genocide claims. Turkish officials argued that France's centre-right government had supported the law to guarantee votes from some 500,000 Armenians living in France. In a related development, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked his government yesterday to draft a new version of the genocide-denial law. Taking into consideration the "great disappointment and profound sadness" of the law's supporters, Sarkozy's office issued a statement, saying, "The President of the Republic considers that [genocide] denial is intolerable and must therefore be punished. He has asked the government to prepare a new draft taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court." France already recognizes the killings of the Armenians as an act of genocide, but the proposed law would have set a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine of 45,000 Euros for those denying it.