Aggression of Yvan Colonna: large demonstration of support for the independence activist in Corte
Demonstrators in Corte in support of Yvan Colonna, Sunday March 6, 2022. AFP - PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA
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Several thousand people marched in Corte in central Corsica this Sunday, March 6, in support of Yvan Colonna, attacked in his prison in Arles, in the south-east of France.
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Yvan Colonna, 61, is a figure of the Corsican independence movement, sentenced for the assassination in 1998 of the prefect Erignac.
On Wednesday, a co-detainee, presented as a jihadist, tried to kill him.
Yvan Colonna is today still between life and death in the hospital.
“ Islamist fanaticism is at
the
origin of a terrorist crime in our country
”
The tension has been such since on the island, that this Sunday, the prosecutor of the national anti-terrorist prosecution gave a press conference.
For Jean-François Ricard, the motivations of the alleged aggressor of Yvan Colonna leaves little room for doubt.
"
Once again, Islamist fanaticism is at the root of a terrorist crime in our country
," said the prosecutor.
Jean-François Ricard also underlines that "
for the fifth time since 2016, it is in a prison establishment that a terrorist crime was committed by the jihadists
".
The investigation will endeavor to "
retrace with the greatest meticulousness the course in detention
" of the aggressor,
“said Mr. Ricard.
The alleged attacker, a 36-year-old man of Cameroonian origin, was sentenced in 2014 for a stay in Afghanistan, alongside the Taliban.
According to the prosecutor, during his police custody, Franck Elong Abé justified the assassination attempt several times: the Corsican activist allegedly made blasphemous remarks.
The special status of Franck Elong Abé
But this version is not enough for the demonstrators who took to the streets of Corte.
Starting with Thierry Casolasco, the president of an association which campaigns for the transfer of Corsican prisoners to the island.
“
It is easy for the French government to fall back behind the card of the Islamist attack to minimize its responsibilities.
Beating an independence activist seems rather bizarre to us with the status he had in prison.
I am a former political prisoner and at the time we hardly had the opportunity to go to the gym.
You couldn't apply for an auxiliary position.
There is something weird
, ”comments Thierry Casolasco.
Franck Elong Abé indeed benefited from a particular status, household assistant.
This is what allowed him to access the gym, where Yvan Colonna was training alone that day.
Franck Elong Abé was indicted for “
attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise
” and placed in pre-trial detention, as part of a judicial investigation also opened for “.
association of terrorist criminals
”.
Franck Elong Abé was serving several sentences, including one of nine years for “
criminal association with a view to preparing an act of terrorism
”.
(
And with
AFP)
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