The Constitutional Council of France on Thursday annulled the decision, which the country’s National Assembly had adopted on December 22, 2016, with respect to criminalizing the denial of genocides and mass murders on national or religious grounds.

The Constitutional Council required some amendments to the respective law’s article that refers to the penalty for the denial of genocide and some crimes—including those which still legally are not considered as such.

The French Constitutional Council decided that the criminalizing of genocide denial and the ensuing penalties are mandatory for application, since they are in violation of the Law on Freedom of Speech and Press that was adopted in 1881, and which runs counter to the Constitution of France.

To note, however, the French National Assembly’s amendments to the law speak about criminalizing not solely genocides and mass murders which already have been legally recognized as a crime, but, also, criminalizing the denial of crimes which are not yet legally considered genocide or a crime and are still a subject of dispute among historians.