The Argentine cartoonist Cristian Gustavo Dzwonik, alias "Nik," is in the news again, although this time it is not for plagiarism.
Gregorio Dalbón, Cristina Kirchner's lawyer, announced on his Twitter account that he will denounce Nik for this cartoon.
In the scene, a policeman accompanied by his Gaturro is interviewed by a journalist and says:
"Two lunatics with an impossible, ridiculous, implausible plan... a man and a woman who put the whole of Argentina in danger."
"The Copitos gang?" the journalist asks, referring to the arrest of Gabriel Carrizo, leader of the Copitos gang in connection with the assassination attempt.
"No", replies the policeman.
In the background is a caricature of the vice-president holding the president on a leash like a dog sticking out its tongue.
Nik thus supports the right-wing conspiracy theory, which insists that the attack on Cristina Kirchner was orchestrated by the government as a fake attack.
For Kirchner's lawyer "this is not a joke" and announced a complaint:
"This is not a joke. For this reason, in my own name, in the absence of a "prosecutor", I will file the corresponding complaint. Enough of gratuitously disrespecting President @alferdez and @CFKArgentina I hope the human rights organisations @pietragallahora will join us".
Predictably, he received a response from the cartoonist for which he reused a drawing he had already made for another issue.
"Now they want to curtail freedom of expression. FIRST, they mess with your CHILDREN, now they mess with your work, with the freedom to express your opinion. Every time they GO FOR MORE."
To which the lawyer replied:
"It wasn't a joke the attack on @CFKArgentina you're going to learn to respect women. You can apologise publicly. If not, don't worry, no one is curtailing your freedom, keep disrespecting the President and Cristina, it won't be for free, you made a big mistake".
On the same day, the PRO block of deputies published a statement repudiating "the threats to freedom of expression made by the lawyer Gregorio Dalbón".
From this point on, Nik dedicated several cartoons, tweets and photographs to Dalbón's threat and was even interviewed on the programme El Corresponsal on the TN channel, Todo Noticias.
Nik even squeezed the controversy to make it into an advert to sell books.
Now it remains to be seen whether the complaint will be filed and, if so, on what terms, since in many cases lawsuits are announced that are never filed.
I have therefore sent an enquiry to Gregorio Dalbón to try to find out at least what he intends to accuse the cartoonist of. I will update this note if I receive a reply.
Humour in trouble, a compilation of cases (III)
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.
