Criminal Complaint Filed Against Charlie Hebdo for Cartoon
Skip to comments
A criminal complaint has been filed in Switzerland over a Charlie Hebdo “Drawing of the Day” by contributor Éric Salch. The cartoon (below) was published last Friday—the same day of a state memorial service for the victims who perished in the Crans-Montana ski resort New Year’s Eve fire that claimed the lives of 40 individuals and injured over 100 others. The cartoon entitled “The burn victims are skiing” with the caption “The comedy of the year”.
The complaint was filed by Béatrice Riand and Stéphane Riand, both residents of Valais (community outside of Crans-Montana ski resort). They claim the cartoon violates Article 135 of the Swiss Criminal Code that penalizes the creation and distribution of violent images that “seriously offends basic human dignity.”
Article 135 of the Criminal Code:
Any person who produces, imports, stores, markets, promotes, exhibits, offers, shows, makes accessible or makes available sound, film or video recordings or other products in which acts of extreme violence against persons or animals are portrayed, without reasonable cultural or scientific grounds therefor, and in doing so seriously offends basic human dignity is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
According to Dutch vrtnws the couple say the drawing, “infringes upon the dignity of the victims. [Salch] does not depict the violence to condemn it, but neutralizes the violence through humor. The cartoon has no cultural, artistic, scientific, or informational value whatsoever.” If the prevail in their complaint, they hope the compensation will be distributed to the victims.
According to Swiss Radio Television, Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo responded:
It’s very funny, because the messages we receive from indignant Swiss citizens are very respectful, whereas usually we’re told to go eat our dead.
Comments