Genocide: France to set up new panel to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity

PanARMENIAN.Net - France plans to set up a new panel to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity, two ministers said in a newspaper column published Wednesday.

Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said legislation would be presented to parliament in the coming six months to create the new unit within the Paris high court.

The genocide and crimes against humanity unit will be given special powers to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity that have occurred outside France's borders and involve many jurisdictions.

The move will allow the cases to come to court more quickly and provide ways to address many of the complications that arise from the serious cases, the ministers argued.

"France, the founding nation of human rights, will never be a sanctuary for perpetrators of genocide," they wrote in the column published in the Paris newspaper Le Monde, AFP reported.

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