A Swiss prosecutor has launched an investigation into remarks by Egemen Bagis denying the Armenian genocide.
The Zurich prosecutor started the investigation on Monday into remarks by Egemen Bagis, Turkey's EU affairs minister and chief EU negotiator, after he said in Zurich that there was no Armenian genocide and that Swiss authorities could arrest him if they wanted to.
News about the prosecution's move was published in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The Zurich Chief Prosecutor's Office launched the investigation into Bagis's remarks - which he made last month in Zurich on his way back from the World Economic Forum at Davos - based on a complaint filed by members of Switzerland's Armenian community.
Zurich State Prosecutor Christine Braunschweig was quoted by the daily as having said: “Last week we received a petition about this issue, informing us that Mr Bagis violated the anti-racism Article 261 of the Swiss Penal Code. Our prosecutor's office has taken this allegation seriously and launched an investigation. We will investigate whether Egemen Bagis uttered words denying the Armenian genocide as asserted in the petition. We will also see if he has diplomatic immunity. At the end of this, we will press charges against him if there indeed is a violation and if he cannot benefit from diplomatic immunity.”
Cihangir Shahin, Bagis's press secretary, said the minister would not comment on the issue until the prosecutor's preliminary investigation was completed.
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