Several people, including Pierre Paoli, Corsica libera activist suspected of having been the leader of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC), were arrested Thursday in Corsica by the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (Sdat), according to a nationalist association and sources familiar with the matter.
Arrests denounced by Sulidarita
The independence party “Corsica libera and its activists are again targeted by political repression”, denounced on social networks the association for the defense of so-called political prisoners, Sulidarita, announcing these arrests.
She specifies, like Corsica Libera on social networks, that Pierre Paoli, one of the leaders of the independence party who was acquitted in June 2018 by the Paris Assize Court for attacks in 2012, and “several other people” were arrested Thursday morning in Corse-du-Sud by the counter-terrorism sub-directorate of the judicial police. This information was confirmed to AFP by two sources familiar with the matter.
According to a third source familiar with the matter, the Sdat made three arrests, in connection with the investigation into a clandestine press conference in 2021.
Increase in crimes for a year
In May 2021, the French anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (Pnat) had indeed taken up the investigation into the announcement of the creation of a new armed group called “FLNC Maghju 21” (May 2021), during a conference clandestine press. For Sulidarita, these arrests on Thursday “highlight the will of the French state apparatus to engage in Corsica a historic process of submission and not of negotiations as some would like to believe”. Demanding “the immediate release of all those in custody”, the association called for a rally in front of the Ajaccio police station on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.
These arrests come as Corsica has seen a proliferation of arson attacks over the past year. These fires, sometimes accompanied by tags, mainly targeted second homes most often belonging to French people residing in France, but without official claim.
On July 11, 16 “actions” targeting two police vehicles, two construction companies and twelve private residences, including the burning of 36 mobile homes in a campsite in Aleria (Haute-Corse), had been claimed by the group. clandestine member of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC). The national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office had taken up the investigations linked to this FLNC press release, investigations which were entrusted to the anti-terrorist sub-directorate of the judicial police. Contacted by AFP, the Pnat did not respond immediately.