“The Pnat [le parquet national antiterroriste, NDLR] wished to seize the whole of the GCC file on which it was under observation”. Thus, as declared Tuesday Nicolas Septe, public prosecutor of Ajaccio, confirming information of Corse-Morning, the Pnat will work on 14 cases of degradation by fire in which the tag “GCC” appeared, meaning in Corsica “Clandestine Corsican Youth”. This decision was made on Friday.
The latest investigation is that of a building under construction with 25 apartments which was targeted by an arson attack on Saturday evening in Pietrosella (Corse-du-Sud) and where inscriptions calling for nationalist armed struggle were found.
Tags were found at the scene, including GCC (for “Ghjuventù clandestina corsa”) already registered on several arson sites in recent months. Another inscription found on the spot by the investigators proclaimed in Corsican: “It’s time to resume the armed struggle and long live the front”.
Arson attacks on second homes
Since June, the acronym GCC, which initially remained mysterious, has been discovered on a dozen villas or burning machines in Corsica. On January 19, tags on an abandoned house damaged by arson in Ajaccio revealed the meaning of the acronym GCC. The Pnat immediately took up this investigation.
The island has known for a year a multiplication of arson attacks mainly targeting second homes of people not residing on the island, often with the presence of tags, but without official claim.
Campsites, beach restaurants, construction companies and construction machinery were also damaged by intentional fires. On July 11, sixteen of these acts were claimed by the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC), a clandestine independence group. The national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office had taken up all the facts.