Yvan Colonna (, ; 7 April 1960 – 21 March 2022) was a Corsican nationalist convicted for the 1998

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

Corse-du-Sud Corse-du-Sud (; , or ; ) is (as of 2019) an administrative department of France, consisting of the southern part of the island of Corsica. The corresponding departmental territorial collectivity merged with that of Haute-Corse on 1 January ...

, Claude Érignac. He was beaten to death in prison by a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian-born inmate for "disrespecting

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

", sparking riots.

Early life

Colonna was born in

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

, France, on 7 April 1960. He was the son of Jean-Hugues Colonna, a former member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

elected in the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

and a recipient of the French

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. His mother was from Laz in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. In 1975, his family moved to

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million After completing his

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

(French high school), he studied to become a teacher of physical education and sports, but broke off his studies in 1981. He then went to Corsica and moved to

Cargèse Cargèse (; or ; ; ) is a village and '' commune'' in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the west coast of the island of Corsica, 27 km north of Ajaccio. , the commune had a population of 1,325. The village was established at the ...

, where his brother later opened a beach bar. He later took up goat herding, a traditional occupation in Corsica, and joined a nationalist militant faction close to the

National Liberation Front of Corsica The National Liberation Front of Corsica ( or ; , Abbreviation, abbreviated FLNC) is a name used by various Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla and paramilitary organizations that advocate an Independence, independent or Autonomy, autonomous state on t ...

. He was suspected in several terrorist acts in the region, and notably to have taken part in an attack on the Pietrosella police station.

Role in the assassination of Prefect Érignac

On 6 February 1998 at 9:05 pm, the

of Corsica, Claude Érignac, was assassinated as he exited a theatre onto rue Colonna-d'Ornano in

. He was shot in the neck with three 9 mm bullets and died shortly thereafter. The weapon was later found to be one of the guns stolen in the attack on the

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

station in Pietrosella on 6 September 1997. The following inquiry resulted in the arrest of several militants, and their interrogation pointed towards Yvan Colonna as the culprit. By the time police went to question him, he had already fled, which sparked the biggest manhunt in French history. Colonna was thought to have left the country, possibly for South America. However, an

infrared camera Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared im ...

set in the mountains of Corsica, near Vico as

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

of a ''bergerie'', a traditional Corsican shepherd stone hut, yielded evidence that Colonna was hiding there. He was arrested on 4 June 2003. Charged with assassination and of being a member of a terrorist organisation, he was arraigned on 12 November 2007 before the court in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

which handles terrorism cases. The court was in session until 12 December 2007. During his pre-trial internment, he repeatedly claimed innocence, and that he was the victim of unfair press coverage that had convicted him before trial. On 13 December 2007, Colonna was pronounced guilty and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. He later appealed. On 20 June 2011, Colonna's conviction was upheld on appeal, and he spent the remainder of his life in the

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

-La Farlède detention centre.

Death

On 2 March 2022, Colonna was attacked in prison by Franck Elong Abé, an Islamist 36-year-old

ian inmate, reportedly for "disrespecting

". In response, violent unrest broke out across Corsica. After spending three weeks in a coma at a hospital, he died of his wounds on 21 March 2022, at the age of 61.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonna, Yvan 1960 births 2022 deaths 20th-century French criminals French people of Breton descent French terrorism victims Corsican nationalists French male criminals Male murderers Nationalist assassins People from Ajaccio People murdered in France People killed by Islamic terrorism Prisoners murdered in custody French people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in French detention