U.S. secretary of state: "We are never going to go down that path to criminalize speech"

WASHINGTON (A.A) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said regarding the bill adopted by French Senate to make it a crime to deny Armenian allegations on the Ottoman era incidents of 1915 that she hoped that they were never going to go down that path to criminalize speech. Replying to a question on the United States' stance regarding the French bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian allegations, Clinton said, "first, one of our great strengths is we do not criminalize speech. People can say nearly anything they choose, and they do, in our country. And so other countries, including close friends and allies like France, have different standards, different histories, but we are, I hope, never going to go down that path to criminalize speech." "I think it's fair to say that this has always been viewed, and I think properly so, as a matter of historical debate and conclusions rather than political. And I think that is the right posture for the United States Government to be in, because whatever the terrible event might be or the high emotions that it represents, to try to use government power to resolve historical issues, I think, opens a door that is a very dangerous one to go through," she said. The bill penalizes denial of the Armenian allegations with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.