Corsican independence activist Yvan Colonna, sentenced in 2011 for the assassination of the prefect Erignac, died at the age of 61 three weeks after being attacked in Arles prison. This attack had triggered a wave of violence in Corsica.
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“A drama”. Valérie Pécresse reacted Monday March 21 on CNews to the death of the Corsican separatist Yvan Colonna, three weeks after his attack in the prison of Arles. “It’s a tragedy, and I call for calm and composure and not to set Corsica ablaze”said presidential candidate LR. “I wish for a return to order in Corsica and I call on all our Corsican compatriots to calm and be restrained”she added, considering “absolutely essential in the current context” to reinforce the forces of order on the spot.
According to her, her competitor and outgoing President Emmanuel Macron “played the clock on the return of prisoners to Corsican soil”, alluding to the special status that prevented Yvan Colonna and other convicts from being reunited with their families in Corsican prisons. For her, “we do not negotiate under pressure from the street, we will negotiate [sur l’autonomie de la Corse] when the order will be returned”, she said. The candidate said “favorable, but not only for Corsica, to a great pact with the regions”. “I want this decentralization, I am a regionalist and patriot and European, I am not afraid to give power to the regions but if we give autonomy, it must be with obligations of result”she developed.