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Yvan Colonna, the Corsican independence activist sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 murder of Prefect Claude Erignac, died last night in Marseille, southern France, three weeks after being attacked in Arles prison by another inmate, a jihadist who had tried to strangle him a few weeks before.
The drama sparked a series of demonstrations and violence across the island. Colonna, reduced to the point of life, died after 3 weeks in a coma. «Yvan Colonna, a Corsican patriot, lives for eternity. We will always be by your side,” tweeted the Femu a Corsica party of Gilles Simeoni, the autonomous president of the island’s Executive Council, in Corsican.
Demonstrations in Bastia
Shortly before, the family had confirmed the death and asked for the utmost confidentiality. “Yvan Colonna who died for Corsica,” Core in Fronte, the main proindependence party, tweeted, accompanying the message with a blackandwhite photo of the militant nationalist.
When Colonna’s death was announced, a few dozen people gathered in front of the Palais de Justice in Bastia and hung banners reading “French statu assassinu”.
In Ajaccio, in front of the cathedral, groups of people gathered in silence. Threatening message from the Corsican Association for the Defense of Political Prisoners Sulidarita, which tweeted: “Down with this murderous French state.”