The Parisian states: Yvan Colonna has succumbed to his injuries during an assault in the Arles prison. Since the March 2 attack, Corsica, a staunch supporter of the Ile de Beauté’s independence, has been in a coma. He died at the hospital in Marseille, according to our colleagues “several corroborating sources“.
A few minutes following the news, Patrice Spinosi, the lawyer for the Corsican pro-independence activist, confirmed the news to AFP: “The family of Yvan Colonna confirms his death this evening at the Marseille hospital. They ask that their mourning be respected and will not comment”he specified.
As a reminder, he had been imprisoned since 2003 following the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998. Since his attack, several major cities on the island have experienced major riots which have revived the debate regarding the independence of Corsica.
He had been violently attacked in the prison sports hall by Franck Elong Abé, a 36-year-old Cameroonian presented as a “jihadist”, who was serving several sentences including one of nine years’ imprisonment for “terrorist criminal association”. This radicalized detainee has since been indicted for attempted terrorist assassination.
According to several sources, Yvan Colonna’s assailant had justified his act by the fact that the Corsican activist had blasphemed and “spoken ill of the Prophet”.
The 61-year-old independence activist was the victim of “strangulation with his bare hands and then suffocation” with a plastic bag, said Tarascon prosecutor Laurent Gumbau.
This attack had provoked an explosion of anger, with sometimes violent demonstrations, across all of Corsica, for nearly two weeks. This anger culminated in riots on March 13 in Bastia, with a demonstration that left 102 injured, including 77 on the side of the police.
Calm returned last week with a three-day visit to Corsica by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, during which the tenant of Place Beauvau promised talks with Corsican elected officials and the island’s living forces. which might lead to potential autonomy for the community.