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Ministry Re-Examines Genocide Definition

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  • Ministry Re-Examines Genocide Definition

    MINISTRY RE-EXAMINES GENOCIDE DEFINITION

    http://194.6.181.127/eng/swissinfo.htm l?siteSect=105&sid=7249487
    November 12, 2006 - 1:13 PM

    A senior justice ministry official says the current anti-racism law
    needs to be re-examined to modify a clause on genocide.

    The head of the Federal Justice Office, Michael Leupold, argues that
    a judge is not in a position to decide on the definition of genocide.

    The debate on Switzerland's anti-racism legislation came to the fore
    after Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, a member of the rightwing
    Swiss People's Party, announced during a visit to Turkey in October
    that he wanted to change the law.

    Any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation
    of Swiss anti-racism legislation.

    The law prompted investigations against two Turkish citizens, including
    a historian, for allegedly denying the 1915 Armenian massacre.

    In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, Leupold said
    there could be no question of abolishing the anti-racism law but
    certain changes were necessary.

    For Leupold it is up to historians and not judges to decide on the
    definition of genocide. He added that it was not clear whether the
    current law infringes on the freedom of speech.

    However, Boël Sambuc, vice-president of the Federal Commission on
    Racism she was shocked by Leupold's comments.

    "The law is very clear and Switzerland also signed an international
    convention aimed at preventing genocide," she told public radio.

    One expert group

    Leupold added that judges should seek assistance from an international
    institution or that the relevant clause be struck from the law
    altogether.

    His comments echo a statement by Justice Minister Blocher who said
    the anti-racism law needed to be clearer and less ambiguous.

    A working group re-examining the legislation is made of one person
    so far, according to Leupold.

    He added the he had not been asked to exclude the president of the
    Federal Commission against Racism from the group.

    The controversial head of the government-advisory committee has
    publicly accused Blocher of telling lies.

    Geneva prison

    In a separate issue, Leupold announced that the justice ministry was
    ready to consider a financial contribution to upgrade the overcrowded
    prison of Champ-Dollon outside Geneva.

    He said the federal authorities were willing to pay just over a
    third of the planned costs estimated at SFr68 million ($54.8 million)
    which the Geneva cantonal parliament is due to consider next year.

    Champ-Dollon is notorious for being Switzerland's most overcrowded
    jail. It contains more than 500 inmates, but its normal capacity is
    set at 270.

    A series of hunger strikes over alleged police brutality and slow
    justice, suicides, and a fire in the prison have caught media attention
    over the past few months.

    In April human rights campaigners described the situation in the
    prison as potentially explosive.

    swissinfo with agencies

    CONTEXT

    Swiss anti-racism legislation was adopted in 1994, among other things
    to prevent revisionist views about the Holocaust.

    In 2005, Swiss authorities launched criminal investigations against
    the historian Yusuf Halacoglu, the president of the Turkish History
    Organisation, and the politician Dogu Perincek for allegedly making
    comments in Switzerland denying the 1915 Armenian massacre.

    Armenians say around 1.8 million of their people were killed. Turkey
    disputes this, putting the figure closer to 200,000.

    Under Swiss law any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide
    is a violation of the country's anti-racism legislation.

    --Boundary_(ID_qdJPme8FXWh1N7fwEw0mg g)--
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