French presidential bid joins "genocide" bill row

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party said yesterday a new bill to punish denial of the Armenian genocide allegations would not be put forward before June after a top court struck down a previous draft. "The problem is that unfortunately Parliament's work has finished and we can't put this bill on the agenda," party leader Francois Cope told journalists after Sarkozy vowed to draw up a new draft. "We will have to wait for the next Parliament," after elections in June, Cope said. France's Constitutional Council ruled Feb. 28 that the bill to punish denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide claims was unconstitutional as it infringed on the right to freedom of expression. Sarkozy is facing a tough re-election battle in a two-round April-May presidential vote ahead of June's parliamentary polls. His rival, French presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande, has also promised to bring back the "genocide" law if he is elected, Anatolia news agency reported.  Hollande promised to reopen the debate in a peaceful negotiation process if he becomes the next president. "It is impossible to prepare a new draft due to the approaching end of the legal year," Hollande said. "But I will bring it up again and try to live up to my promises." After the bill was annulled by the Constitutional Council, the lawmaker of Sarkozy's UMP party who had proposed the bill, Valerie Boyer, said she was "sad but determined." "Today under French law there are two types of victims and two types of descendants of victims... Some are protected from revisionist acts and some are not, and I think this is a serious double standard." Also, Sarkozy's office quickly put out a statement saying the president noted "the great disappointment and profound sadness of all those who welcomed with hope and gratitude the adoption of this law aimed at providing protection against revisionism."