Target of an attack in Copenhagen in 2015, Lars Vilks lived under protection after drawing Muhammad with a dog’s body in 2007. The Swedish cartoonist was killed in a road accident on Sunday in Sweden with the two police officers in charge of the protect.
Swedish police have confirmed the death of the 75-year-old cartoonist and the two police officers in a violent accident in the south of the country. She ruled out the hypothesis of a malicious act.
A collision with a truck
“It is investigated like any traffic accident. As two police officers are involved, an investigation was also entrusted to a particular section of the prosecution, ”said a spokesperson for the local police. Asked about possible elements suggesting a track other than accidental, the latter replied that no. “The investigation would be oriented differently if that had been the case,” he said.
The accident occurred Sunday afternoon on the E4 motorway near the town of Markaryd when the car hit a truck traveling in the opposite direction. The two vehicles then caught fire “as a result of the collision”. According to the daily Expressen, the unmarked police car, which was traveling very fast, crossed a crash barrier for an as yet undetermined reason before hitting the truck. The truck driver was hospitalized, police said.
An attack in the presence of the French ambassador
After his drawing of Muhammad as a dog, which followed the Danish cartoons of the prophet published in 2005, Lars Vilks lived under protection almost uninterrupted, due to numerous threats and attacks from Islamists.
On February 14, 2015, a young Danish man of Palestinian origin opened fire when he tried to break into a debate on freedom of expression in Copenhagen, organized after the deadly attack on Charlie hebdo in Paris. Lars Vilks, who was headlining the meeting with the French ambassador, escaped unscathed, but a 55-year-old Danish director was killed by the assailant, who later that evening shot dead a keeper of the synagogue in Copenhagen. He had been killed the next morning in a face-to-face with the police.