Itongadol.- The president of Romania signed into law Wednesday a bill criminalizing Holocaust denial with a prison sentence of up to three years.
President Klaus Iohannis endorsed the legislation which Romanian Parliament approved last month.
Promotion of the Legionnaires\’ Movement, a fascist and anti-Semitic party that joined the Romanian government in 1940, is forbidden as well. During the Holocaust, the party carried out additional attacks on Jews.
The new law also disallows fascist, racist and xenophobic organizations and symbols and places a ban on supporting people found guilty of crimes against humanity.
Anyone convicted of violating the newly implemented prohibitions faces a three year prison sentence.
According to the bill, Holocaust denial refers to invalidating the role Romania, an ally to Nazi Germany during World War II, played in exterminating both Jews and Roma between 1940 and 1944.
Some 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma were brutally murdered under fascist dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu\’s rule.
In addition to Romania on Wednesday, France and Germany are two of the major European nations that have so far criminalized Holocaust denial.
In February, the Italian Senate also approved a bill outlawing Holocaust denial.