The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held a Grand Chamber hearing
on January 28, 2015 in Strasbourg (France) in the case of Dogu Perincek v. Switzerland. The case stems
from a Swiss court verdict that in 2007 fined Perincek, a Turkish
ultranationalist activist and chairman of Turkey’s Workers’ Party, over
his 2005 statement calling the Armenian Genocide an “international lie.”
In appealing to the ECHR, Perincek’s defense argued that the Swiss
court violated Perincek’s right to freedom of expression; the court
ruled in their favor in December 2013. On March 7, 2014, Switzerland filed an
appeal, which led to today’s hearing.
A first-rate legal team, which included renowned human rights lawyers Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Alamuddin Clooney, as well as Armenia’s Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, represented Armenia at the ECHR.The government of Switzerland has also joined the appeals process, as have two Turkish human rights organizations that have submitted legal briefs in favor of Armenia.
A first-rate legal team, which included renowned human rights lawyers Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Alamuddin Clooney, as well as Armenia’s Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, represented Armenia at the ECHR.The government of Switzerland has also joined the appeals process, as have two Turkish human rights organizations that have submitted legal briefs in favor of Armenia.
