Europe 1 with AFP 3:37 p.m., April 3, 2024

On Tuesday, a pilot on a Bastia-Marseille flight refused to take on board an inmate accompanied by his armed prison escort. The latter was to be tried before the criminal court of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction. The trial was therefore adjourned to a later date. 

The Lithuanian pilot of a Bastia-Marseille flight refused on Tuesday to board a detainee with his armed prison escort, causing the postponement of a trial for criminal conspiracy on Wednesday in Marseille, we learned from a judicial source. Ange-Marie Gaffory, 38, detained at the Borgo remand center (Haute-Corse) where he is serving a sentence from the Ajaccio criminal court, was to be transferred to be tried on Wednesday and Thursday before the criminal court of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction.

>> READ ALSO

 -

 Criminal destruction in Corsica: the two suspects indicted and imprisoned

An enemy clan affair

During the presentation, Tuesday morning, at Bastia-Poretta airport, of the escort of the Regulatory and Planning Authority for Judicial Extractions (ARPEJ), the pilot of the Air Corsica flight, carried out by a Lithuanian airline , opposed the boarding of prison officers with their weapons. “Transfers of detainees or people in custody between Corsica and the continent are carried out regularly with Air France and when it comes to an aircraft chartered to a foreign company, we are effectively refused.” explained prosecutor Emilie Ramousse according to whom the change of operator on Tuesday for the Bastia-Marseille rotations could not have been anticipated by the prison administration.

As Ange-Marie Gaffory refused to be judged in his absence or even by videoconference from Borgo prison, the court ordered the case to be adjourned to May 29 and 30. He must appear alongside three co-defendants for his highly contested participation in a criminal association, in reality preparatory acts, according to the prosecution, with a view to intentional homicide by an organized gang. This criminal association case would be part of the context of a strong opposition between Guy Orsoni's clan and that of the "Petit Bar".

"If the accused firmly refuted that the recovery of stolen vehicles was used to prepare any criminal project, it must be noted that it clearly appears to testify to the assembly of logistical means with a view to the preparation of a violent action", wrote the investigating judge in her order for referral to the court.