Charlie Hebdo sued over Crans-Montana fire cartoon

A Swiss lawyer and his wife have filed a criminal complaint against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after it published a cartoon about the deadly bar fire in Crans-Montana.

Forty people were killed and more than 100 injured when a bar caught fire on New Year’s Eve. On Friday, the day of the state funeral, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon showing two skiers with the caption “Les brûlés font du ski” (“Burned people go skiing”), a play on the title of a 1979 French comedy film.

The cartoon caused outrage in Switzerland. The couple lodged a complaint with prosecutors in the canton of Valais against Charlie Hebdo and the cartoonist, Eric Salch. They argue the drawing violates Swiss criminal law on violent imagery, saying it damages the dignity of the victims and trivialises the tragedy through humour.

The controversy comes just days after the 11th anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. On 7 January, France marked eleven years since gunmen killed 12 people at the magazine’s Paris office in 2015 in an attack that shocked the country. The anniversary renewed debate over the limits of satire and freedom of expression, making the latest publication particularly sensitive.

The couple are calling for a criminal investigation and, if there is a conviction, compensation to be paid to all victims. 

^{© AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO}