The Swiss are suing Charlie Hebdo after it published a cartoon about the tragedy in Crans-Montana: “Burnts ski”
A couple of lawyers have filed a complaint in Switzerland against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published a cartoon on January 9 about the deadly fire that broke out in a bar in the Crans-Montana resort, Swiss media reported on Monday.
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The complaint, filed by Stéphane Riand and his wife, Béatrice Riand, at the prosecutor's office of the canton of Valais (south-west), also targets the author of the drawing, Eric Salch, Agerpres.
The drawing shows two skiers with blackened skin and bandages going down a slope near which there is a sign “Crans-Montana”. The drawing is accompanied by the texts “Burnts ski” and “Comedy of the Year”a reference to the 1979 comedy Les Bronzés font du ski.
The caricature was published on January 9, a day decreed in Switzerland as a day of national mourning in tribute to the victims of this tragedy that resulted in 40 deaths – mainly teenagers and young adults – and 116 injuries on New Year's Eve. Among the victims are also foreign citizens, including French and Italians.
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Contacted by AFP, Charlie Hebdo magazine had no comment.
This drawing “stages, in a graphic manner, the victims themselves, used as the central spring of a satirical message bordering on abjection”the lawyers wrote in the complaint published by the Valais news site 1dex.ch.
“The symbolic transformation of real victims into smiling actors of a drama – for which they are in no way responsible – constitutes a graphic dehumanization, incompatible with the minimum respect due to human dignity”they also said, estimating that in “in this case, respect for human dignity prevails over freedom of expression”.
They request that the Valais prosecutor's office open a criminal investigation against the management of Charlie Hebdo and its cartoonist and order compensation to be allocated by the canton of Valais to all victims.
