Speech crimes and France
Denying genocide may be ignorant, but the French government shouldn't criminalize it.
By Timothy Garton Ash
January 19, 2012
On Monday, the French Senate is scheduled to debate and possibly vote on a bill that would criminalize denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915, along with any other events recognized as genocide in French law. The bill has passed the lower house of Parliament. The Senate should reject it, in the name of free speech, the freedom of historical inquiry and Article 11 of France's pathbreaking 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen ("The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious rights.…").
More:France must reject bill muzzling free speech, historical inquiry - latimes.com
