Pierre Alessandri, one of the assassins of prefect Claude Erignac, is released from prison under electronic surveillance

2023-10-25 12:47:16
A graffiti in the streets of Bastia, March 14, 2022, demanding “freedom” for Yvan Colonna (left), Alain Ferrandi (center) and Pierre Alessandri (right), all three involved in the assassination of the prefect Erignac , in 1998. PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA / AFP

Since Tuesday October 24, Pierre Alessandri has no longer slept in prison. One of the assassins of prefect Claude Erignac, shot dead in February 1998 in Ajaccio, sentenced in July 2003 to life imprisonment, is now placed under electronic surveillance and is no longer required to return to Borgo prison (Haute -Corsica) in the evening after his work day as well as on weekends.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The discreet return to Corsica of the last two prisoners of the commando who assassinated the prefect Erignac

Aged 65, Pierre Alessandri, who had been placed on semi-freedom on February 13 by the Paris Court of Appeal, returned discreetly to his village of Cargèse (Southern Corsica) on Tuesday, and is preparing to resume the professional activity that he had left to his relatives since his incarceration in May 1999. According to one of his lawyers, Me Eric Barbolosi, contacted by The worldhe is expected to relaunch his essential oils company.

“We submitted a request for placement under electronic surveillance a little over four months ago”, specified Me Barbolosi. Examined by the sentence enforcement court on October 18, the request was not the subject of any opposition, “not even the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office which was in favor”, notes the lawyer. However, until February 2024, Pierre Alessandri remains under a probationary semi-freedom regime. He can travel to Corsica, but is not allowed to go to Ajaccio (the scene of the crime), nor to Pietrosella (South Corsica), a village located south of the Gulf of Ajaccio where, in September 1997, the commando had kidnapped gendarmes from whom they had stolen the weapons which were used to kill the prefect Erignac. He is also not allowed to come into contact with the other members of the commando sentenced at the same time as him.

Alain Ferrandi remains in prison

It is from February 13, 2024 that Pierre Alessandri should benefit from an unimpeded conditional release measure for a period of ten years. During the last eight months since his placement on semi-release, he has worked in a rural development company in Ponte-Novo (Upper Corsica). He had obtained this semi-release after three requests filed by his counsel were systematically rejected by the court of appeal. Each time, it evoked “risk of disturbances to public order” and an “serious attack on the nation” to justify his refusals.

It took the fatal attack on Yvan Colonna, in March 2022, at the Arles power plant (Bouche-du-Rhône), also sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of prefect Erignac, and the resulting riots on the island, so that the judges agree to give a favorable response to these successive requests. For twenty-three years, from May 1999 to March 2022, Pierre Alessandri was incarcerated under the status of particularly marked detainee, without being able to benefit from reconciliation measures, as detainees are entitled to.

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