Alain Ferrandi, sentenced to life in 2003 for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Erignac, will know Thursday, May 19 if his request for adjustment of sentence with semi-freedom is validated on appeal.
Read alsoThe semi-freedom of a member of the “commando Érignac” blocked by the prosecution
In the first instance, on February 24, the court for the application of anti-terrorism sentences (Tapat) had given its agreement, but the national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat) had appealed. A first request was refused in 2019, a rejection confirmed on appeal in January 2020. A semi-freedom regime would allow him to work outside during the day and return at night to Borgo prison (Haute-Corse) . Alain Ferrandi, 61, plans to work for a citrus-growing farm, domaine “which corresponds to his diplomas“, told AFP his lawyer Françoise Davideau.
“Extremely aggressive” requisitions
“The file that we present meets all the requirements of the law in terms of reintegration. Employment, accommodation if leave is granted, compensation for civil parties: all the boxes are filled in“, Estimated the lawyer, who would not understand a new refusal. During the hearing before the Sentence Enforcement Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, on April 21, the requisitions were “extremely aggressive“, she regretted. Arrested in May 1999, Alain Ferrandi was sentenced in July 2003 to life imprisonment, accompanied by a security period of eighteen years. He has been eligible for parole since May 2017.
On May 12, semi-freedom was granted to Pierre Alessandri, another member of the commando sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac on February 6, 1998. But this decision was also struck by a suspensive appeal from the Pnat. This call “shows that the position of the prosecution is immutable despite the course of the detainees“, regretted Me Davideau. The two men were transferred on April 11 to Borgo prison (Haute-Corse), from the central house in Poissy (Yvelines). This rapprochement, demanded for a long time, was made possible by the lifting on March 11 of their status as “particularly reported detainee“by the then Prime Minister Jean Castex, ten days after the fatal attack on Yvan Colonna in the prison of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) by another prisoner.
Read alsoYvan Colonna: why the state is reluctant to allow the return of members of the Erignac commando to their island
Arrested in 2004 after a long run, the Corsican independence activist was also definitively sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment for the assassination of the prefect Erignac. His death had caused great tension in Corsica, many believing that such an attack would not have taken place if Yvan Colonna had been detained there. The former shepherd of Cargèse also claimed for a long time his rapprochement on the island.