Sarkozy to submit new law draft if Constitutional Council rejects

President Nicolas Sarkozy will immediately submit a new draft of a law punishing denial of the Armenian genocide if France's top judicial body rejects it, two ministers told AFP Wednesday.

"The president told us in cabinet that he would immediately submit a new draft if there is a rejection by the Constitutional Council" of a bill approved recently by the French parliament, said one of the ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the canada.com reports.

Another minister said Sarkozy had also criticized those in cabinet who had opposed the bill, saying they "did not see past the ends of their noses."

He said a rejection of the bill by the Constitutional Council could open the door to questioning a law that penalizes denial of the Holocaust.

On January 24, 2012, after a debate that lasted about eight hours the upper chamber of the French Parliament – Senate - approved, by 127 votes to 86, the measure which threatens with jail anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.