During a press conference, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor announced that the police custody of the attacker of Yvan Colonna had been lifted this Sunday but that a judicial investigation will be opened for “attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and “terrorist association of criminals”.
The prosecution will request the indictment of Franck Elong Abe, 35, and his placement in pre-trial detention, indicated the prosecutor Jean-François Ricard, who specified that the investigation will endeavor to “determine all the contacts” of the aggressor, “especially among people who share his ideology” and “clarify the possible interactions […] likely to have played a role in the facts”.
He confirmed that Franck Elong Abe was serving several sentences in Arles prison, including one of nine years for “criminal association with a view to preparing an act of terrorism”. During his police custody, he explained the aggression of Yvan Colonna “by what he considered to be blasphemies” uttered in recent months by his victim. This one would have declared in particular a few days ago that he “spit on God”.
According to the prosecutor, the violence of the facts left “little doubt about his intention to kill”. As for the vital prognosis of the Corsican independence activist, he remains committed.