The mayor of the central Italian town of Amatrice said on Tuesday authorities are considering pursuing legal action against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for a cartoon depicting victims of an earthquake as types of pasta, and another suggesting the mafia was to blame for the death toll of almost 300.
Amatrice, the home of “amatriciana” pasta sauce, was flattened by the quake on August 24 and hundreds of people lost their lives.
READ MORE: Italy earthquake: Aerial photos show sheer devastation of Italian towns
The French magazine had featured one cartoon, entitled “Earthquake Italian Style”, with captioned drawings of a bloodied and bandaged man “Penne in tomato sauce”, a scratched and swollen woman “Penne au gratin”, and a collapsed building with blood and feet emerging from it “Lasagne.”
After Italians responded angrily, the magazine, famed for its provocative, taboo-busting cartoons, published a second one, showing a person half-buried under rubble saying: “Italians … it’s not Charlie Hebdo who built your homes, it’s the mafia!”
“The whole thing was not a priority for us but I felt I had to go ahead and sue (Charlie Hebdo) as a form of respect not just for our dead but also for Italy,” the mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi, said.
“After doing it in Italy we’ll do it (sue) also in France. And if we win the case, and we will, the money we’ll receive will go to social services for the support of the families that are really in need,” he added.
The local government has asked a local prosecutor to investigate Charlie Hebdo for “aggravated defamation”, a crime for which the town would seek civil damages.
Even though the cartoons were published in France, legal advisors said the legal case could be brought in Italy because they had been widely seen and shared there.
It is now up to the magistrates in nearby Rieti, to decide whether to take up the investigation against the cartoonists and the magazine’s director.
Charlie Hebdo has declined to comment.
Schools in Amatrice re-opened for the first time since the summer holidays on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Italy earthquake: School reopens in quake-stricken Amatrice
Most school structures were damaged during the quake despite having being built with earthquake protection standards.
Students were able to begin their courses in pre-fabricated structures specifically constructed in safe tent camps for the inhabitants of the quake area.
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