Report No. 267

Negationism:

4.21 Historical consciousness is essential for recognising instances of denial of basic rights to certain groups, in the past. Negationism is one of the grounds on which ECtHR has in recent years limited article 10. In M'Bala M'Bala v. France,62 the court held that anti Semitism and Holocaust denial could not be protected under article 10. Such a speech is excluded from the protection of the Convention not only when it is sudden and direct but also when it was presented as an artistic production.