Jean Castex on Friday lifted the status of “particularly reported detainee” (DPS) of Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, members of the Erignac commando, “in a spirit of appeasement” after the attack on Yvan Colonna which sparked a series demonstrations in Corsica, announced Matignon.
This status prevented their rapprochement to a Corsican prison. This decision, which applies “without delay”, therefore opens the way to a rapprochement in Corsica of the two detainees, an old claim that has become a major political point of tension on the island.
The Prime Minister had already tried to ease the tension on Tuesday evening by lifting, “for human reasons”, he assures us, the DPS status of Yvan Colonna, also sentenced to life for the assassination of the prefect of Corsica Claude Erignac in 1998.
What is the status of “particularly flagged prisoner”?
The “particularly reported detainees”, whose number is approximately 350 in France, are those who present a particularly violent nature or a particular risk of escape, or whose escape would cause a particular disturbance to public order. In prisons, their cells are located close to surveillance posts and guards are expected to exercise heightened vigilance during roll calls, searches and inspections of premises, and during their movements. In the event of medical extraction or transfer, they are also subject to additional monitoring measures compared to other detainees.
But while the independence activist is in a coma after his attack on March 2 in his prison in Arles by a fellow prisoner imprisoned for terrorism, the gesture was considered by many as a provocation and did not prevent the multiplication of demonstrations and a night of riots Wednesday night.
In this context, Mr. Castex said he “firmly condemned” the violence, which saw the Ajaccio courthouse in particular targeted on Wednesday evening, “as well as the totally inappropriate remarks accusing the State of having intentionally lent hand in the very serious attack of which Yvan Colonna was the victim”.
“The conditions under which this unacceptable act could have taken place in a penal establishment must be elucidated in a rapid and transparent manner”, further pleaded the Prime Minister, recalling that he had launched an investigation by the General Inspectorate of Justice.
And Mr. Castex “proposed that once calm has returned to the island, the dialogue initiated in recent months on the evolution of the status of the Corsican community, as well as on the major economic and social issues of the territory can resume. “. He therefore instructed the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to “make proposals” to him in this direction.
Thursday evening, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica Gilles Simeoni had called on the state to “open a new political cycle and to say clearly that there is a Corsican question”. And among the “strong signals” expected also included “the immediate lifting of the DPS status” of MM. Alessandri and Ferrandi “and their transfer” to the Corsican prison of Borgo.
If Mr. Castex gave satisfaction on these points, “the bellows of popular anger could only fall a little or even a lot”, assured political scientist Thierry Dominici, specialist in nationalist movements, on Thursday.