Yvan Colonna: who is the woman he married in prison?

He was one of the best-known prisoners in France. This Monday, March 21, Yvan Colonna died, three weeks after a violent attack that took place in Arles prison on March 2 between an inmate and Yvan Colonna. Yvan Colonna, nicknamed the shepherd of Cargèse, aged 61, had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the prefect Claude Erignac in 1998.

Despite his imprisonment, the Corsican independence shepherd had managed to get married. Indeed, while he was on the run between 1999 and 2003, a young woman, named Stephanie and trained farmer, had fallen under his spell. “I saw her once when I was wanted”explained Yvan Colonna from the dock during his third appearance, in 2011. “particular story”, as Le Parisien reminded us, fueled by an epistolary relationship, and finally a marriage.

A marriage in prison and a baby 9 months later

Their union was celebrated on March 3, 2011 at the penitentiary center of Fresnes, in Val-de-Marne (94), where Yvan Colonna was detained at that time. For the occasion, the newlyweds had benefited from a four-hour visit, instead of the usual 45 minutes. And nine months later the ceremony, December 1, 2011, Stéphanie Colonna gave birth to their son, Ghjaseppu.

Since the beginning of their love story, Stéphanie Colonna has always been convinced of the innocence of her husband. “I am marrying Yvan Colonna who is neither a myth nor any of that, he is a man first and foremost and he is the man I love and whom I am simply going to marry. I know who he is I am convinced that the man I am going to marry is not the author of this crime of which he is accused”she had hammered on RTL, a few days before marrying him.

In 2018, Yvan Colonna’s wife even had arrested Emmanuel Macron, during a visit by the Head of State to Ajaccio. She had begged him to transfer her husband to a prison in Corsica. “My six-year-old son hasn’t seen his dad in a year and a half. please do something (…) It’s not an animal, it’s a human being”she had launched to the President of the Republic, who had replied: “That your child can see his father, that the people who are detained in our country can see their family, that is one of the things that we will ensure.

During her interview at the microphone of RTL in 2011, Stéphanie Colonna confided that she dreamed of “go for a walk in the forest, of“to go to the beach”, of “to go on trips”, or even from “projects of working together”. “But also we have darker projects”like the prospect that he will remain imprisoned for many years.

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