in Cargèse, Corsica says goodbye to the independence activist

A silent crowd and, surrounded by Corsican flags, the coffin of Yvan Colonna. It was in Cargèse, in a church in his native village, that hundreds of Corsicans paid him a last tribute on Friday March 25. “He is someone, whatever he did, who sacrificed his life for a cause, for a struggle, for a free people”comments a man.

Yvan Colonna died on Monday March 21. He had spent three weeks in a coma, after being violently attacked by a fellow prisoner in a prison in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), where he was serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Claude Érignac, in 1998. After four years on the run and three trials, he was convicted in 2001, although he has always maintained his innocence. Since his death, the separatists have suspended violent actions. The authorities fear new incidents in the days to come.