Hundreds of people came to say goodbye on Friday to Yvan Colonna in the Corsican village of Cargèse (west). The pro-independence activist was fatally assaulted by a fellow inmate in the prison where he was serving his sentence for the assassination of Prefect Erignac.
Among the crowd were several political figures from the island, including the autonomous president of the Executive Council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, the former pro-independence president of the Corsican Assembly, Jean-Guy Talamoni, and Charles Pieri, former alleged leader of the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), a movement that has recently threatened to resume armed struggle.
Yvan Colonna was buried following a religious ceremony in the tiny cemetery at the entrance to Cargèse, dedicated to the “Colonna families”, as indicated by a gray marble plaque at the entrance.
Just before the burial, the crowd gathered on the access road to the vault, a few meters from the family, sang the “Dio vi salvi Regina”, the Corsican anthem, and then pro-independence songs.
One man lamented that “war songs” were uttered “in front of a dead man,” but most of those present cheered, responding with waves of “Viva Yvan!”
Among the 2000 to 3000 people gathered at the height of the day, massed in front of the church and in the alleys of the village, many brandished “banderas”, the Corsican flag struck with the head of a Moor. The blue-white-red was on the other hand invisible, “he is persona non grata”, explained a man with a shaved head.
Repatriation refused
Detained in Arles, Yvan Colonna was violently attacked on March 2 by a fellow jihadist prisoner convicted in particular of terrorism. He died Monday at age 61 in a hospital in Marseille following almost three weeks in a coma.
The former shepherd was sentenced three times to life in prison for the execution by bullet of Prefect Claude Erignac in February 1998 in Ajaccio. This crime, which he has always denied, was committed as an armed pro-independence insurgency multiplied acts of violence on the island.
Yvan Colonna had been asking for his sentence in Corsica for years, but was facing an end to non-receipt from the state. His aggression sparked a wave of anger in Corsica. Violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement have left dozens injured.
Many Corsicans believe that by refusing this request, the State has a share of responsibility. Hence the slogan “French State assassin” widely present in the demonstrations of recent weeks.
“Leave him alone”
“Yvan, he really wanted to come back to his island, so that his island lives, is respected. He wanted to come back to his sheepfold and be left alone, ”explains Christine Flori, a 69-year-old prison visitor, who wanted to be there to say goodbye to the one she met once a month for 12 years. and whom she considers innocent.
As a sign of “solidarity”, an autonomous party had called for all flags to be flown and a minute of silence observed at 3 p.m. The banning by the Corsican community on Tuesday of the three flags – Corsican, French and European – adorning its façade, however, had been denounced as “a fault” by President Emmanuel Macron.
Thursday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had seen him “a kind of insult for the Erignac family, for the French State, for the representatives of the State”.
The death of Yvan Colonna also raised the issue of autonomy, raised by the French government, for this island-region of 340,000 inhabitants. Since the announcement of Yvan Colonna’s death, however, recollection has prevailed on the island.
ATS
