Charlie Hebdo co-founder to slain editor: 'I hold it against you'

In an open letter published Wednesday in the French magazine Nouvel Obs, Charlie Hebdo co-founder Henri Roussel laid blame for the terrorist attack squarely at the feet of slain editor Stéphane Charbonnier, declaring to his fallen colleague: "I really hold it against you."

Specifically, Roussel accused Charbonnier of publishing unnecessarily provocative editorial cartoons, an act that would "drag the team into overdoing it" with controversial illustrations. Citing the previous, cartoon-fueled firebombing of the Hebdo offices in 2011 and a second Muhammad cartoon scandal in 2012, Roussel deemed Charbonnier both an "amazing lad" and a "blockhead."

Charlie Hebdo's longtime lawyer countered with a letter to Nouvel Obs, complaining "Charb has not yet even been buried and Obs finds nothing better to do that [sic] to publish a polemical and venomous piece on him."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up