Family of slain Corsican nationalist Colonna files lawsuit against French state
The family of the late Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna, who died in a prison attack in March that sparked rioting on the French Mediterranean island, has filed a lawsuit against the French state.
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Colonna's parents, wife, brother, sister and two children Colonna Wednesday told a court in Marseille they held prison authorities legally responsible for his death.
"The various elements of the investigation reported by the press and the hearings of parliamentarians have only served to maintain the suspicion that the attack on Yvan Colonna was directly linked to a series of administrative malfunctions," Patrice Spinosi, one of the family's lawyers, told French news agency AFP.
He cited a 2009 law that said prisons must ensure that each detainee had protection "of their physical integrity" in collective and individual spaces.
"The state is thus obliged to compensate the beneficiaries of a prisoner who died as a result of violence committed within a prison by another detainee," said Spinosi.
Damages sought
He added that he was claiming 200,000 euros in damages for Colonna and 100,000 euros for each member of his family.
"An independent and impartial court is now responsible for judging the links between the inaction of the state and the death of Yvan Colonna," Spinosi said, adding the court would have to making a ruling by the end of the year.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Thursday in an interview on BFMTV the complaint lodged against the state by Colonna's family did not "shock" him.
Colonna was seriously injured on 2 March by a radicalised fellow prisoner, Franck Elong Abé, a 36-year-old Cameroonian described as a "jihadist", who attacked him in the prison gym.
The 61-year-old Corsican separatist, sentenced three times to life imprisonment for the assassination of police chief Claude Erignac in 1998, died on 21 March in the Marseille hospital where he had been transferred while in a coma.
This attack provoked an explosion of anger throughout Corsica, with sometimes violent demonstrations.
Clashes in Bastia
Clashes took place again on Wednesday night in Bastia, where some 50 hooded rioters threw Molotov cocktails at the police headquarters and the Bank of France. A French flag was also set alight.
Police responded with tear gas and rocket-propelled grenades. According to the fire brigade, an 18-year-old demonstrator was seriously injured.
A meeting set for Friday between a Corsican delegation and Darmanin has been postponed.
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