Will justice shower the political discussions between Corsica and Paris on the status of autonomy of the island? By rejecting, Thursday, September 29, the request for partial parole made by Pierre Alessandri, one of the two members of the commando sentenced to life for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac, in 1998 in Ajaccio, and still imprisoned, the court call from Paris raised “general indignation” elected members of the Assembly of Corsica meeting in session. The sentencing chamber overturned the decision at first instance on May 12, which suggested a sentence adjustment for the defense of Mr. Alessandri, 64, detained since 1999, but released since 2017. He had obtained his transfer from Poissy prison (Yvelines) to Borgo prison (Haute-Corse) in the spring with Alain Ferrandi, convicted in the same case.
This spark ignited the Hemicycle on Thursday afternoon, when the councilors had to examine a report on waste. They suspended their work. The separatist leader of the Core in fronte group, Paul-Félix Benedetti, immediately withdrew his participation in the discussions set up with Place Beauvau in March, following the fatal attack on Yvan Colonna on March 2 in the Arles power plant (Bouches-du-Rhône), “until there is clarification”.
“Today, we are faced with a Janusian attitude of the State which on the one hand takes refuge in a derogatory manner behind the principle of the separation of powers, but which on the other hand allows itself to exploit the prosecution (…). It’s white or black, we don’t walk in the graydeclared Mr. Benedetti, whose party, structured with militants active on the ground, was at the heart of the riots which occurred in March in Corsica.
The only territorial representative of the Corsica libera separatist sensibility, councilor Josepha Giacometti, for her part, urged the assembly to establish a “political balance of power”. Even the right wing has joined the chorus of indignation. “A rule of law does not mean that the state has all the rights”summarized Jean-Martin Mondoloni, co-president of the Un soffiu novu group.
Threat of blockages
“There are timorous peacemakers in Paris, but there are also warmakers”decided the president of the executive, Gilles Simeoni, pleading for the exit of this « cercle infernal ». Mr. Simeoni then convened the conference of presidents, which brings together the president of the Assembly of Corsica and the presidents of the various groups that sit there. It opted for a joint press release supposed to silence the cacophony. “This decision is misunderstood and unfair, considers the text read by the president, Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis. It is also incomprehensible in its motivation since it retains as a main title, to justify the continued detention of Pierre Alessandri, after twenty-three years of imprisonment, that his release would constitute a risk of disorder audience. »
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