Yvan Colonna, a Corsican separatist leader who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a French prefect, died Monday evening. He was recently strangled in jail by a fellow inmate and has been in a coma ever since. His family has announced this through his lawyer Patrice Spinosi, reports the French news agency AFP.
Colonna’s mistreatment last week sparked violent day-long riots on the island in the Mediterranean Sea. Dozens of police officers and protesters were injured. The protesters charged the French state that Colonna could be attacked in captivity and were dismayed that the two detainees faced each other without supervision.
The man who attacked Colonna is serving a nine-year prison sentence for planning a terrorist attack. What exactly happened in the cell is still being investigated by the French authorities.