Three arrests, three days in police custody, and once again a postponed ministerial visit: after an upturn that lasted the space of a summer, the weather continues to deteriorate between Paris and Corsica. For the second time in two months, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, postpones a visit to the island which he was to make from December 8 to 10. “After discussions with local elected officials, it was collectively considered that the climate was not favorable to moving. This will be postponed to January.told the Monde a source close to the minister.
Thursday 1is December, in the morning, the police officers of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) arrested three men, in Ajaccio, within the framework of a judicial investigation opened by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) for “association of criminals with a view to prepare terrorist acts”. Among them, Pierre Paoli, a leader of the independence movement Corsica libera, suspected of being one of the main leaders of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC). These arrests did not fail to arouse the disapproval of several elected nationalists and rallies took place Thursday and Friday in Ajaccio.
This operation of the SDAT and the anti-terrorist justice is part of a context of resurgence of attacks committed on the island against second homes for several months. In September 2021, a new armed group called “FLNC Maghju 21” (May 21) made itself known during a clandestine press conference attended by several dozen hooded and armed men.
“Preserving the quality of exchanges”
At the end of police custody in the premises of the judicial police of Ajaccio, two men were released on Sunday December 4 without any prosecution. The third was to be transferred to Paris on Monday December 5 to be brought to justice for an indictment.
Pierre Paoli emerged free. “No charges have been brought against him, declared to Monde his lawyer, Jean-François Casalta. One wonders why it took them three days to reach this conclusion. Perhaps to allow the Minister of the Interior to justify the cancellation of his visit”, he quipped.
It has now been two months since the discussions started at the end of July between the government and the elected islanders have been interrupted. They had been launched with great fanfare on July 21 in the lounges of the Hotel Noirmoutier in Paris in the presence of twenty-one elected Corsican representatives representing all the political forces of the island, nationalists or not. Immediately followed by a ministerial trip to the island between July 22 and 24, they were to continue at the rate of a meeting every six weeks.
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