Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Statement on the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Friday, April 24, 2015
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

LOS ANGELES–Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement today in remembrance of the centennial of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide:

“Today, we honor the memory of the nearly 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally murdered from 1915 to 1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide is one of humanity’s darkest chapters. We must never forget the atrocities committed against the Armenian people as we remain vigilant in our fight against civil and human rights violations.” 

Attorney General Harris authored a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the right of Armenian Americans to seek justice in connection with unpaid Genocide-era insurance policies.  (Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung AG, 670 F.3d 1067 (9th Cir. 2012)). Harris, joined by several other states, filed a similar brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals’ adverse decision (Arzoumanian, et al. v. Munchener Ruckversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft AG).  The Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2013.

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