Hungary’s president signs law making Holocaust denial punishable by 3 years in prison
By APWednesday, March 10, 2010
Hungary makes Holocaust denial a crime
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom has signed a law making Holocaust denial punishable by three years in prison.
The law was approved last month by Hungarian lawmakers, after more wide-ranging versions of the law had been rejected by courts for limiting free speech.
Spokesman Ferenc Kumin says President Solyom signed the bill because in his opinion the law is not unconstitutional.
Parliament had rejected an amendment put forward by the center-right opposition adding to the bill crimes by Hungary’s pro-Nazi and communist regimes.
The governing Socialist Party and Hungary’s growing Jewish community welcomed the news Wednesday.
Some 550,000 Hungarian Jews and 50,000 Gypsies were killed in the Holocaust.
