Corsica: Pierre Alessandri, member of the Erignac commando, is granted a semi-freedom regime

Published on: 05/12/2022 – 21:21 Pierre Alessandri, who like Yvan Colona had been sentenced to life for the assassination in Corsica of the prefect Erignac, was granted the “benefit of semi-freedom” on Thursday. The measure is however suspended, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) having appealed the decision. Imprisoned for 23 years, Pierre Alessandri, a member of the commando who assassinated the prefect Claude Erignac in Corsica, obtained, Thursday, May 12, to benefit from the semi-freedom regime. The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) has announced that it is appealing this decision of the Anti-Terrorist Sentence Enforcement Court (Tapat). “We have just signed the act of appeal”, indicated the Pnat, contacted by AFP, immediately suspending this measure. This decision was to allow Pierre Alessandri to work during the day on a farm outside of Borgo prison (Haute-Corse), where he has been detained since April 11 with Alain Ferrandi, another member of the commando sentenced to life for the assassination of the prefect Erignac. This is the third time that Pierre Alessandri, 63, , asked to benefit from the semi-freedom regime. In response to his first two requests, in October 2019 and then in July 2021, the court for the application of anti-terrorism sentences had already given the green light, but the national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat) challenged the decision, which was then overturned on appeal in both cases. the perpe killed for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Erignac. He finally died on March 21, as a result of this attack by another detainee in the central house of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône). These events had caused great tension in Corsica, many believing that such a aggression would not have taken place if the independence activist had been detained in Corsica. The former shepherd of Cargèse had also been calling for his rapprochement on the island for a long time. Following this fatal attack, the Prime Minister, in charge of this file in place of the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti, the latter having been Yvan Colonna’s lawyer, had taken a series of decisions concerning Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi. 18 years old, for their participation in the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac on February 6, 1998, in Ajaccio. Imprisoned since May 1999, they had been released since May 2017. Demonstrations against the “murderous French state” The Prime Minister had thus made it possible for them to be transferred to a Corsican prison, a request long demanded by their families and elected officials from Corsica and from the continent, by lifting on March 11, “in a spirit of appeasement”, their status as “particularly reported detainees” (DPS). Corsica has no central house, the only type of prison structure authorized to accommodate DPS, the two detainees could not until now be imprisoned on the island and were detained at the central house in Poissy (Yvelines). Came to the island in mid-March to try to calm the situation, after two weeks of demonstrations turning to riots, with the main slogan “French State assassin”, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had conditioned the rapprochement of Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri to a return to calm on the island. On March 22, Jean Cas tex then announced the transfer to the Corsican prison of Borgo “by mid-April” of the two detainees. A transfer finally carried out on April 11. A decision of the Paris Court of Appeal concerning a similar request for adjustment of sentence with a semi-freedom regime presented by Alain Ferrandi will be rendered on May 19. As for Pierre Alessandri, this request had been accepted at first instance on February 24 but had been subject to a suspensive appeal by the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office. With AFP