The independence activist Yvan Colonna, between life and death after being very seriously injured in prison, is no longer considered a “particularly reported detainee” (DPS), Matignon announced on Tuesday evening.
This status, which prevented his bringing him closer to a Corsican prison, had been contested for years by Yvan Colonna, sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998. “This decision (…) is based on the particular gravity of the situation of health of Yvan Colonna and is based on the opinion delivered today by the commission of the central house of Arles”, indicated Matignon. It appears as a symbolic and appeasement gesture, confirms a government source, when new angry demonstrations broke out on Tuesday in Corsica.
“Signs of appeasement”
Since the attack on Yvan Colonna a week ago, the circumstances of this “assassination attempt”, which is the subject of a judicial investigation, have sparked numerous demonstrations on the island, nationalists and family of Yvan Colonna accusing the State of an “overwhelming responsibility”.
“The peaceful process of political dialogue must be accompanied by signs of appeasement on the part of the” French government “, had previously declared the League of Human Rights of Corsica, referring in particular to requests for rapprochement towards a Corsican prison of two other members of the commando which killed the prefect Erignac, a rapprochement already demanded by several deputies from all political stripes.
In Paris, the deputies announced that they would audition senior officials of the Penitentiary Administration “on the conditions of surveillance” of Yvan Colonna who was serving his sentence in the prison of Arles, when he was attacked by a convicted fellow prisoner for terrorism.