Criminal Law and Memory

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the conflicts between the criminal offence of historical denialism and history. It dissects the three main problematic consequences of criminalisation: the risk of tampering with historical reconstructions; the risk of establishing one historical truth only and the risk of introducing a hierarchy among historical memories. First, the analysis focuses on a few landmark cases adjudicated by French courts. The French legal experience is paradigmatic of the problematics emerging from the criminalisation of historical denialism. Second, two judgments of the ECtHR are examined. The Garaudy case epitomises the consequences of the `original' form of historical denialism. The Perincek case demonstrates the risks involved in adopting a `broader' paradigm of historical denialism.