It is in the native village of Cargese in southern Corsica that the independence activist sentenced for the murder of the prefect Erignac will be buried this Friday, March 25 at 3 p.m.

Yvan Colonna died Monday in hospital in Marseille, at the age of 61, following his attack at the prison of Arles where he was imprisoned. His body, repatriated to the island of beauty on Wednesday evening, was welcomed with a guard of honour of 1,500 people in Ajaccio.

Discreet funeral wanted by the family

His family wishes for a discreet funeral, “a small funeral” according to the terms used.

Burial is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, but the ceremony could be moved to Saturday.

After nearly two weeks of anger and controversy and violent demonstrations, Corsica has observed since Monday, the day of the death of Yvan Colonna, a time of meditation. The gatherings around churches and village squares, against the backdrop of Capella religious songs, testified that mourning took precedence over street mobilizations on Tuesday. Flags were lowered. Emmanuel Macron had called this decision a “mistake”.

His attacker indicted for murder

Yvan Colonna, who was serving a life sentence for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998 in Ajaccio, had been attacked by a fellow prisoner in the sports hall of Arles prison. Franck Elong Abé, 36, was serving a 9-year sentence for association with terrorist criminals.

Since this attack, he has been indicted by the anti-terrorist prosecution for assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise.