The family of Corsican independence activist Yvan Colonna, in a coma after an attack by a fellow prisoner, called on Saturday for the mobilization in Corsica to be relayed "beyond nationalist circles", on the eve of a planned demonstration in Corte. (Upper Corsica).
"We will be in thought alongside this youth who, tomorrow Sunday, calls for a mobilization by which they wish to denounce what Corsica is undergoing, just like our family today after so many others", wrote the Colonna family. in a letter sent by Christine Colonna, the sister of the former shepherd.
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"It is also important to us that this mobilization can be extended to other associative sensitivities, political or otherwise, that our calls can be heard, relayed beyond the nationalist circles to which we ourselves belong", she adds. .
On Wednesday, Yvan Colonna was the victim of a violent attack by a fellow prisoner in the prison of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) where he was serving his sentence for the assassination of the prefect of Corsica Claude Erignac in 1998.
Questions about aggression
Since then, demonstrations have followed one another on the island, from rallies in front of the prefectures to the blocking of ferries, with the slogan "French State assassin", against a background of questions about the conditions of the attack on Yvan Colonna, who had been asking for a long time to be brought together in a prison on the island.
In their letter, the family denounces an "aggression, brutal, barbaric, technically controlled", and speaks of "attempted assassination".
It announces “legal initiatives” as soon as possible.
According to the first elements of the investigation, then entrusted to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office, the prisoner who attacked Yvan Colonna strangled him with his bare hands.
Sunday at midday, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office will hold a press conference in Paris about the attack on Yvan Colonna.
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His relatives complained that they lacked information just after the attack, in particular from the prison administration.
“Yvan was then announced deceased then in a state of brain death and finally in a stationary but nevertheless very serious condition.
These simple facts are indicative of an abnormally confused, incomprehensible, suspicious situation,” denounces the family.
The family “touched by marks of sympathy”
The Colonnas say they are "deeply touched by all the marks of sympathy, solidarity and support that the Corsicans, but not only, wherever they are, in France, or here, unknown or close, have shown us".
“For all this, and for what you will do in the days to come, a big thank you from the bottom of my heart!
“, they add in the Corsican language.
Saturday evening, banners of support for Yvan Colonna were deployed in a stand at the Furiani stadium, in Haute-Corse, during the league 2 match between SC Bastia and Valenciennes.
“For Yvan and for the people, against the murderous state.
I spit in your face.
All in Corte “, could we read, inscribed in black letters on white tarpaulins, brandished from the East tribune which shelters the ultras Bastiais, or even “France outside”.
The match went off without incident.
Sunday, a demonstration at the call of the nationalist student unions, joined by many political parties and unions, should bring together hundreds of people in Corte.
At the end of January, Corsican deputies warned about the conditions of detention of Yvan Colonna, who was the subject of special surveillance because of his status as a "particularly reported detainee".
Affirming that he was undergoing “degrading treatment from a legal point of view”, these Corsican nationalist deputies had asked for his transfer to the island in order to bring him closer to his family.
