Yvan Colonna, the Corsican independence activist sentenced to life for the assassination of the prefect Érignac, died Monday evening March 21 in Marseilles, after three weeks of coma following his attack in prison, a drama which had led to violent demonstrations on the island. “The family of Yvan Colonna confirms his death this evening at the hospital in Marseille. She asks that her mourning be respected and will not make any comment, ”said Mr.and Spinosi at Agence France-Presse. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal called on Tuesday for “calm and dialogue” in Corsica, assuring that “all light will be shed” on the attack suffered by Yvan Colonna in prison.
“Everyone knows the reasons which led Yvan Colonna to prison, the cold-blooded assassination of the prefect Érignac, but the dramatic circumstances in which he was killed are obviously very shocking”, also underlined Gabriel Attal, sending his condolences to his family. “We will find out what happened, the responsibilities,” he said, recalling that an inspection has been carried out, a judicial investigation opened and that parliamentary hearings are planned. Concerning the discussions which should open at the beginning of April “to move forward on all the issues and in particular the constitutional question”, Gabriel Attal recalled the “red lines” laid down by the government: “It is obviously the maintenance of Corsica in the Republic and the fact that we will never accept that there are two categories of citizens in the Republic. »
The day before, the candidate of the Republicans, Valérie Pécresse, had expressed herself in particular by calling for “not to set Corsica ablaze”. “On Yvan Colonna, it’s a tragedy, and I call for calm and composure and not to set Corsica ablaze,” said presidential candidate LR on CNews, after the sometimes violent demonstrations of these last weeks. “I wish for a return to order in Corsica and I call on all our Corsican compatriots to calm and be restrained”, she added, considering “absolutely essential in the current context” to strengthen the forces of the order on the spot.
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“What happened to Yvan Colonna is obviously dramatic,” she continued. According to her, her competitor and outgoing President Emmanuel Macron “played the clock on the return of prisoners to Corsican soil”, alluding to the special status which prevented Yvan Colonna and other convicts from being closer to their families in prisons. Corsican.Government targeted
Other political figures, right and left, also spoke. Éric Coquerel, LFI deputy, wrote on Twitter: “Arrived in Ajaccio, I learned of the death of Yvan Colonna. If, as requested with other deputies, he had benefited from a rapprochement, this tragedy would never have happened. A parliamentary commission to find out the truth is imperative. Ugo Bernalicis, LFI deputy, also tweeted: “The death of #YvanColonna is a tragedy. It signals a failure of our justice and of this government, which failed to protect and keep alive one of its detainees…”
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Laurent Jacobelli, spokesperson for the National Rally, for his part reacted on LCI: “I do not understand that in a State which is a State of law […], Éric Dupond-Moretti is still Minister of Justice. Gilbert Collard, supporter of presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, said on Twitter: “Yvan Colonna is dead. His assassin is a jihadist born in Cameroon: this kind of individual should have returned to his country a long time ago, which would have been the case if the Ministry of Remigration proposed by Éric Zemmour was in place! »