PARIS. – World-renowned Armenian singer, and Armenia’s Ambassador to Switzerland, Charles Aznavour expressed his gratitude to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the French National Assembly’s passing of the bill that criminalizes the denial of Armenian Genocide, Le Figaro daily writes, referring to Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.  

“You have spoken, on many occasions, in favor of condemning the denial with a law, justly noting that the right of free expression is not a freedom to manipulate history, it is not a freedom to deny the historical facts. France caused a sense of pride among 500 thousand French Armenians, nine years ago, by becoming the world’s first state to give the Armenian Genocide the strength of law,” Aznavour said and added: “Today we are proud that our National Assembly has specified criminal accountability for the denial of genocides.”   

To note, the French National Assembly passed, on December 22, the bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides. But the bill still needs to be approved by the French Senate, which is expected to discuss it in February. The bill sets a one-year prison sentence plus a 45-thousand-Euro fine for anyone who denies genocides. And in reprisal to the passage of this bill, Turkey recalled its ambassador to France, and Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s eight-point sanctions against France.