the parliamentary commission of inquiry points to a series of “errors” by the authorities

The parliamentary commission responsible for investigating the fatal attack of Corsican independence activist Yvan Colonna in Arles prison in 2022 pointed to a series of “failures”, “inactions” and “errors” of the authorities, in its report published on Tuesday 30 May.

This report, which closes six months of work, makes 29 recommendations, divided into three areas: the “imperative reform” of the status of “particularly reported detainee” (DPS), the “strengthening of the detection and surveillance of dangerous radicalized detainees”, and improving the care of “those with psychiatric disorders”

The rapporteur Laurent Marcangeli (Member of Corsica-du-Sud, Horizons) and the president of the commission Jean-Félix Acquaviva (Member of Liot of Haute-Corse) will hold a press conference at the National Assembly at 5:00 p.m.

Judicial investigation continues

Yvan Colonna, who was serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac in 1998, was violently attacked on March 2, 2022 in the sports hall of Arles prison by Franck Elong Abé, a radicalized man from 36 years old convicted in particular in a terrorist case. The latter is indicted for assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise. The judicial inquiry is ongoing.

The report draws a parallel between the “severity” of the prison treatment imposed on Yvan Colonna (the refusal to lift his DPS status despite “good behavior”, thus preventing his transfer to a Corsican prison) and the “benevolence” of which on the contrary benefited Franck Elong Abé, also DPS.

The latter, also classified TIS (for “Islamist terrorist”) and notoriously radicalized, had gone to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the early 2010s, and had multiplied the incidents in prison.

Improving coordination between intelligence services

According to the report, the detainee, who suffered from psychiatric disorders, should never have been placed in traditional detention and even less worked, alone, in contact with other detainees. The report speaks on this point of a series of “obvious” errors of assessment leading to this “reckless risk-taking”.

He underlines the local failures in terms of security and surveillance, partly due to the lack of means, which allowed Franck Elong Abé to attack Yvan Colonna violently for eight minutes without being disturbed.

Among the recommendations, the commission suggests improving coordination between the various intelligence services, and making it compulsory to assess or reassess a TIS detainee before his integration into conventional detention. It also asks that the management of psychiatric disorders be “the next major project for the prison administration”.

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