by Claudio Del Frate
He was serving a life sentence for terrorism. She had been attacked by a fellow inmate. In the past few days, the incident had triggered violent street demonstrations on the island
Yvan Colonna, the Corsican independence fighter who was serving a life sentence and was attacked in prison by an Islamic extremist on March 2, died in a Marseille hospital. The aggression suffered by Colonna had led to street riots and clashes with police across Corsica, to the point that the Paris government had dispatched Interior Minister Gerard Darmian to the island to begin negotiations on the neverending issue of Ajaccio’s autonomy from Paris. There are now fears the news could reignite violence in several cities.
Yvan Colonna, 61, has been in a coma since the attack: he was strangled by a fellow inmate at Arles prison in southern France. The killer was a man of Cameroonian origin, a former Islamist foreign fighter who was serving a sentence for terrorism. The starting point of the attack was a dispute related to the religious beliefs of the African prisoner. The family attorney broke the news of Colonna’s death; In the past few days, the court had suspended the sentence against the independent on probation. Colonna had been in prison since 1998: he was held responsible for the assassination of the prefect of Ajaccio that year.
The autonomous movements of Corsica had accused the French authorities of failing to protect the life of Colonna, who is not considered a terrorist on the island but a hero of local identity. For this reason, demonstrations had taken place in various cities, from Corte to Bastia to Ile Rousse; in a few days there were 67 wounded, 44 among the police officers.
March 21, 2022 (change March 21, 2022 | 10:41 p.m.)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED