"France's resolutions against Turkey are also known. They decided that French citizens who did not recognize the so-called "Armenian genocide" in the past will be brought to criminal responsibility.
MP Siyavush Novruzov said this while commenting on the resolution adopted by the French National Assembly against Azerbaijan.
Fakt Yoxla examined whether this claim was true.
Parliament, which is the legislative body in France, consists of two chambers - the National Assembly and the Senate. The decisions of the Parliament are approved by the President of France. This means that in order for the laws passed by the parliament to have legal force, the head of the country must approve those laws.
Bill No. 3842, which Siyavush Novruzov talked about, was presented to the National Assembly on October 18, 2011, by Valerie Boyer, representing the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône.
The bill, consisting of only 2 articles, provided for the punishment of 1 year in prison or a fine of 45,000 euros for those who deny and trivialize the existence of the "Armenian genocide".
Although the Senate Rules Committee recommended that the bill be rejected by senators, the bill was passed by a vote of 86 to 127 in the Senate General Assembly on January 23, 2012. After that, for the law to come into force, it had to be approved by the French president.
However, the opportunity provided by Article 61 of the French Constitution changes the situation. According to this article, at least 60 senators or 60 representatives have the right to apply to the Constitutional Council for the repeal of the law. As a result, representatives and senators who opposed the enactment of the law collected the necessary signatures and appealed to the Council to repeal the law.
The Constitutional Council decided that both articles of this law were unconstitutional, taking into account the 1789 Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights and the 1958 French Constitution, and annulled the said law. This decision to repeal the law entered into force on March 2, 2012, after its publication.
Thus, although the law was passed, it was later repealed before it came into force. That is, this decision does not have any legal force.
Fakt Yoxla concludes that Siyavush Novruzov's claim is False.
