The French lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, approved a bill on Thursday making it a crime to deny that the Ottoman Turks committed Genocide against Armenians during World War One. A total of 106 deputies voted in favor of the bill while 19 voted against, France Info radio reports. The amendment of former minister Patrick Devedjian, authorizing the debate of the historians on the history of the Genocide, was rejected by the deputies. The bill has still to be ratified by the upper house, the Senate, and the President Jacques Chirac before it becomes law.

The bill provides for one year of imprisonment and a fine of 45 thousand Euros for denying the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.