Five months later, the death of the Corsican separatist Yvan Colonna continues to cause a stir. This Thursday, August 4, access to the central house in Arles was blocked for several hours by prison guards. Called to mobilize and supported by three trade unions, the agents were calmly dislodged by the police around 12:45 p.m. What are their demands and what consequences could the movement take? 20 minutes make the point.
- Why did the mobilization take place in Arles precisely?
It is in the prison established in this commune that, on March 2, the Corsican prisoner Yvan Colonna was fatally attacked. That day, the separatist who was serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac was violently attacked by another prisoner, Franck Elong Abé.
This 36-year-old man had been sentenced to nine years in prison for “terrorist criminal association”. Plunged into a coma for three weeks, Yvan Colonna died on March 21 in Marseille. Called to account, the government then asked the General Inspectorate of Justice to draw up a report on the circumstances of the attack on the Cargese shepherd.
- What did this report conclude?
rare fact, the document was made public by Matignon last July 28. He pointed to a “clear lack of vigilance” on the part of a prison guard from the central house in Arles, the agent having remained “without any reason” away from the place of the facts, which lasted nine minutes. Implicating the former director of this establishment, the report of the IGJ also imputes to the prison administration a share of responsibility in the drama.
Inspectors from the interregional management of prison services in Marseille have been criticized for “not being more informed of the evolution of a detained person in a sensitive criminal situation”. Also according to the report, the services responsible for combating violent radicalization in prison and the prison security sub-directorate of the central administration have “not fulfilled their role in terms of monitoring a detained person TIS (terrorist Islamist).
- What are the unions’ demands?
If the central house of Arles was blocked this Thursday, August 4, it is mainly as a sign of support for the prison guard incriminated in this report. The three trade union organizations mobilized today – Ufap Unsa Justice, CGT, FO – thus accuse the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, of having set up the agent as a “scapegoat” for this particularly embarrassing affair for the executive and the administration. During the delivery of the report, the head of government had also announced “the initiation of disciplinary proceedings” against the supervisor and the former director of the prison.
The tenant of Matignon was brought to seize head-on this legal subject because of the former functions occupied by Eric Dupond-Moretti. Minister of Justice now, the former criminal lawyer withdrew from this case because he was responsible, in 2011, for defending Yvan Colonna during his third trial.
Contacted by 20 minutes, Thomas Forner, Ufap delegate from Arles, denounces the “inadmissible” treatment granted to his colleague by the executive. “The IGJ report points to an incalculable number of failures and responsibilities are established within the administration. Yet no one is targeted by name unlike the supervisor. We attack the one who is at the very bottom of the ladder, ”fulminates the trade unionist. The agents mobilized ask the prison administration to allow the justice the time necessary to investigate before taking possible sanctions.
- Can mobilization expand?
The blocking movement mainly focused on the only central house in Arles. “A walkout in Lille, in support of the movement took place this morning”, simply indicates to 20 minutes prison administration. But the unions say they are particularly attentive to the follow-up given to this file. “If the administration goes after someone who has done his job like any other agent would have done, we will be heard”, warns Jean François Forget, the secretary general Ufap Unsa. Jail overseer.