Jailed Corsican nationalist dies after attack by Jihadist in French prison

Yvan Colonna, a jailed Corsican nationalist who was attacked at a prison in Southern France, died on Monday, according to French daily Le Parisien.

The strangling of Colonna (above) by a fellow inmate three weeks ago, which left him in a coma, prompted violent protests in Corsica in recent weeks, including clashes with police, and calls for nationalist prisoners to be transferred from the French mainland to the island, closer to their families.

Colonna was serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of Claude Erignac, who as prefect of Corsica embodied the power of the French state on an island with a history of separatist violence.

Colonna was jailed two decades ago following a five-year manhunt that eventually found him in the mountains living as a shepherd.

According to prosecutors, he was working out in the prison gym when Franck Elong Abe, a Cameroonian former jihadist serving time for terror offences, allegedly launched his attack.

Abé tried to suffocate Colonna with a bin bag after hearing him "blaspheming" and mocking the prophet Muhammad, investigators say.

The French government has indicated it would be willing to loosen its grip on Corsica, following the protests that have revived tensions between Corsica and Paris less than a month before presidential elections in the euro zone's second biggest economy.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said that dealing with the island's status would be a priority during a potential second term in office for President Emmanuel Macron.

- Reuters

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