A wealthy French-based businessman has launched a 1 million euro fund to pay the fine for anyone convicted in France for denying the fact of the Armenian Genocide, Today’s Zaman reported.

Rachid Nekkaz, who previously offered to pay the fines of Muslim women penalized for wearing a full-face veil, claims that the real target of the French bill is Islam, since Turkey is a Muslim country.

On December 22, 2011, French National Assembly passed a bill criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide. If passed and signed into law by the Senate, the bill would impose 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.