by Stefano Montefiori correspondent from Paris
The independent, who had been on the run for a long time, was one of the bestknown prisoners in France. On the day of his capture, thenminister Sarkozy cheered in front of the militants
Yvan Colonna, “the shepherd of Cargese”, 61 years old, was one of the most famous prisoners in France, in prison for the murder of Claude Erignac, prefect of Corsica, killed in the street in Ajaccio on February 6, 1998 Always for Declared innocent, he died on March 21 in Marseille hospital after the attack he suffered 20 days earlier in Arles prison by another prisoner, the Islamist Franck Elong Abé. Colonna’s murder has caused serious incidents in Corsica and the French government is now trying to calm tensions by referring to the region’s Statute of Autonomy for the first time.
Colonna was a familiar face in France, and not just among Corsican nationalists. Finding the investigation was heading his way after the assassination of Prefect Erignac, Colonna ran away in May 1999 and was nowhere to be found for four years. His photo appeared in all newspapers and TV reports and in all public offices: prefectures, city halls, gendarmerie and police stations, to train stations and airports. When Colonna was finally arrested in Olmeto in southern Corsica in July 2003, then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy cheered in front of his party’s militants who had gathered near Marseille: “The French police arrested Yvan Colonna, the murderer of the Prefect Erignac !” , said Sarkozy, forgot the presumption of innocence and sentenced him before the trials.
However, the three trials that followed recognized him as the material author of the murder that marked the most dramatic point of the clash between Corsican independence and Paris. The assassination of the Prefect Erignac runs through the history and politics of France: one of Yvan Colonna’s legal team, Gilles Simeoni, was then the first Corsican nationalist to be elected President of the Executive Council of Corsica; the other, Eric Dupond Moretti, is the current Minister of Justice, as such responsible for the prison facilities, including the Arles prison where Colonna was fatally attacked. French government spokesman Gabriel Attal promises that “light will be shed” on Colonna’s death and acknowledges “a very serious failure” in the prison’s security management.
Yvan Colonna had ‘DPS’ status, meaning ‘particularly prominent prisoner’, which prevented him from being transferred to Corsica and from receiving regular visits from family and friends. This special surveillance status did not prevent a fellow inmate, Franck Elong Abé, from strangling him into a coma before he died. On the morning of March 2 at 10:10 am, Yvan Colonna was alone in the gymnasium of Arles prison, entrusted to the care of 36yearold Abé, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for terrorism after fighting westerners in Afghanistan. The argument broke out because Colonna had expressed and defended his atheism. Islamist Abé accused him of blasphemy and beat him for eight minutes, then strangled him with plastic bags and towels. Therefore, Islamist terrorism also becomes part of this affair at the heart of French history. After falling into a coma from prolonged lack of oxygen, Colonna died 19 days after the attack. He was the son of JeanHugues Colonna, former Socialist MP for the Maritime Alps and adviser to the Ministry of the Interior. After the violent incidents in Corsica and in particular in Bastia, with the attack on the gendarmerie and Molotov cocktails thrown at the agents, the French government is now offering to start negotiations to achieve autonomy for the island.
March 22, 2022 (change March 22, 2022 | 16:29)
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