PARIS
Charlie Hebdo cartoonist 'Luz', who designed the holy Prophet Muhammad cover in the wake of the attack on the magazine’s Paris office, has resigned, local media reported on Tuesday.
Renald Luzier told the Liberation newspaper he would stand down in September due to the pressures of the job and the deaths of colleagues in the Jan. 7 attack, which saw 12 killed when gunman stormed the office. Another five people were killed around Paris in the following days.
"This is a very personal choice... It is too much to bear," Luz said. "Each issue is torture because the others are gone.”
Referring to the victims of the attack, he added: “Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honore, Tignous would have done is exhausting.”
Following the attack, Luzier, who joined the satirical magazine in 1992, drew a front cover cartoon showing the holy Prophet Muhammad holding a "Je suis Charlie" sign in an acknowledgement of the social media campaign empathizing with the victims of the attack.
Last month, Luzier, 43, announced he would stop drawing images of holy Prophet Muhammad, which most Muslims find offensive.
Charlie Hebdo’s management announced on Monday that 4.3 million euros worth of donations made following the attack would be "divided in favor of the victims" by a committee appointed by the Ministry of Justice.
The magazine had struggled financially before donations poured in.
