The meeting between Armenian and French Presidents was followed by a state dinner in honor of Serzh Sargsyan, with world famous chansonnier Charles Aznavour, co-chairmen of Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) Mourad Papazian and Ara Toranian present, Paris-based journalist Jean Eckian told PanARMENIAN.Net.

During the dinner Francois Hollande reiterated the pledge to redraft the law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in France, stressing the need to ensure the legal framework to avoid censorship by the Constitutional Council.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide. The bill envisaged imposing a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Later, the French Constitutional Council ruled the bill as anti-constitutional. In a statement the Council said the document represented an “unconstitutional breach of the practice of freedom of expression and communication.