On 13 January 2026, a Swiss couple living in Canton Valais filed a criminal complaint against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and one of its cartoonists for a cartoon by Éric Salch about the fire at the Crans-Montana ski resort on New Year's Eve that left 41 dead and 116 injured.
The cartoon shows two skiers with burned bodies covered in bandages, and the caption:"The burned skiers ski, the comedy of the year", in reference to the 1979 French cult film "Les bronzés font du ski" (The tanned skiers ski) and the victims of the fire.
The couple, Béatrice Riand and Stéphane Riand, consider that the cartoon mocks the fatalities and burn victims of the fire and therefore violates Article 135 of the Swiss Penal Code, which criminalises the creation and distribution of violent images that "seriously offend basic human dignity".
The plaintiffs consider that the drawing "violates the dignity of the victims and that the cartoonist does not depict violence in order to condemn it, but neutralises it through humour. The cartoon has no cultural, artistic, scientific or informative value". They also hope that, if they win the lawsuit, the compensation will be distributed among the victims.
Béatrice Riand, speaking on Swiss public television (RTS), said the lawsuit is intended to start a debate: "This is an unnecessary and empty caricature that adds nothing to the public debate. Personally, I found it repugnant.
You can watch Béatrice Riand 's speech from minute 18:10 onwards.
This article of the criminal code, under which the complaint is lodged, covers the following cases:
Depictions of violence
Art. 135
1 Any person who produces, imports, stores, markets, promotes, exhibits, offers, shows, displays, makes accessible, acquires, obtains, possesses by electronic or other means, or makes available, sound recordings, films or video recordings or other items or depictions in which extreme acts of violence to adults or animals or simulated acts of cruelty to minors are depicted without reasonable cultural or scientific grounds, and in doing so offends the public or the media, films or video recordings or other items or performances depicting extreme violence towards adults or animals or simulated acts of cruelty towards minors, without reasonable cultural or scientific grounds for doing so, and in so doing seriously offends basic human dignity, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years or a fine. If the articles or depictions contain actual acts of cruelty to minors, a term of imprisonment of up to five years or a fine shall be imposed.
2 Any person who consumes or, for his own consumption, produces, imports, stores, acquires, obtains by electronic or other means, or possesses the articles or depictions referred to in the first sentence of paragraph 1 above, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine. If the articles or depictions have as their content genuine acts of cruelty to minors, a term of imprisonment of up to three years or a fine shall be imposed.
3 The items in question will be confiscated.
Charlie Hebdo reacted to the announcement of the lawsuit by publishing another cartoon as"drawing of the day", also by Éric Salch. The cartoon asks the question:"Do we have the right to blaspheme the Swiss?" and adds the caption "The editorial staff decimated by two crossbowmen".
The image shows two Swiss characters dressed as William Tell and armed with crossbows at the door of the Charlie Hebdo office, looking at the bloodied cartoonists who have been shot to death. The scene intentionally recreates the attack on the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in 2015.
Gérard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, commented on Swiss public television (RTS):
"It's very curious, because the messages we receive from outraged Swiss citizens are very respectful, whereas normally they tell us to go and eat our dead".
I will try to follow the evolution of this case to find out how the judicial process ends, as in many similar cases there is a lot of publicity for the lawsuit, but then very little or none for the judgement.
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
