Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Statement on the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Sunday, April 24, 2016
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

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

"Today marks the 101st anniversary of the Armenien Genocide, an extremely dark period in world history. In the eight years between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed and countless more were forced to flee from the only home they knew. Today and every day, the Armenian Genocide and those who were lost must be solemnly remembered." 
 
In 2012, 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)).
 
In 2013, several other states joined California in filing 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.

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