France: call to demonstrate in Corsica after the violent attack on Yvan Colonna in prison
Undated photo of Yvan Colonna, provided by the Ministry of the Interior, in 1999. She appeared on official wanted notices at the time.
(Photo: AFP)
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
A new call to demonstrate in Corsica, the French island in the Mediterranean, after the aggression, Wednesday, March 2, of Yvan Colonna by a fellow prisoner.
This independence activist is serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Érignac in 1998. He is still in critical condition.
As soon as his hospitalization was announced, the island experienced a wave of tension.
Advertising
Read more
Demonstrations took place in several municipalities of Corsica, Thursday and Friday, including one in front of the prefecture of Ajaccio.
The University of Corte was blocked, as was a ferry connecting with the mainland.
The boat was prevented from docking for nearly 7 hours.
The Corsican workers' union had called for blocking the arrival of reservist gendarmes who were on board.
In the end, only the passengers were able to make landfall.
Parliamentary inquiry commission
Gilles Simeoni, the president of the Executive Council of Corsica, calls for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the attack on Yvan Colonna.
The first elements indicate
that a detainee, presented as a jihadist, would have attacked the independence activist
for insulting remarks towards the Prophet Muhammad.
But Gilles Simeoni is not convinced, and evokes "
the sad Corsican experience of stifled affairs
".
This aggression revives the controversy linked to the detention of Corsican prisoners on the continent.
A “particularly reported detainee”
This is the case of Yvan Colonna, detained in Tarascon in the south-east of France.
The activist is indeed considered a
DPS
, a "particularly flagged detainee": no Corsican prison is suitable for these prisoners, considered dangerous and prone to escape.
After consultation, unions, political figures and former prisoners are calling for a regional demonstration this Sunday in Corte, to denounce an assassination attempt for which they hold the French state responsible.
►
To read also: Emmanuel Macron: "no amnesty for the assassins of the prefect Erignac" in Corsica
(
February 6, 2018
)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
France
Justice
Crime
Terrorism