Armenia will submit a formal request to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) by August 26 to engage as the third party in the case of Turkish nationalist politician Dogu Perincek. Attorney General Gevorg Kostanyan made this announcement on July 15 in response to a question during a meeting with reporters.
On March 9, 2007, Perincek, a Turkish national, was found guilty by Switzerland’s Cantonal Court of Canton Vaud of denying the Armenian Genocide and fined. The Vaud Cantonal Court and the Federal Supreme Court both rejected his appeal against the verdict. On December 17, 2013, however, the ECHR found that the Swiss court ruling violated the appellant’s freedom of speech.
The European Court of Human Rights judgment on the case of Perincek, who is chairman of Turkey’s Workers’ Party, gave rise to expressions of concern by more than thirty genocide scholars and historians from around the world, who on February 14 addressed an open letter to the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, Simonetta Sommaruga. The open letter was also sent to the Human Rights Association in Turkey.
On June 2, 2014, the European Court’s staff of five judges agreed to refer the case for hearing by the Grand Chamber. This means that the Court’s ruling of December 2013 will not go into effect.
Attorney Vahe Grigoryan is convinced that the ECHR Grand Chamber investigation will not take place in the previous pervasive atmosphere of silence, when Turkey, “completely benefiting from the Republic of Armenia’s incomprehensible silence and inaction, was able to reach such results, their most noticeable achievement in the practice of Armenian Genocide denial.” According to Grigoryan, Dodu Perincek v. Switzerland is the first case in which the Armenian Genocide is the direct subject of an international court hearing.
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