Gérald Darmanin postpones his planned visit to Corsica because “the climate was not favorable”

At the Ministry of the Interior, we explain the postponement by three recent arrests disputed by the nationalists. Other arrests, including that of Charles Pieri, took place on Monday morning.

by Yves Bordenave

Three arrests, three days of police custody, and once again an adjourned ministerial visit: after an upturn that will have lasted the space of a summer, time does not stop spoiling between Paris and the Corsica. For the second time in two months, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, reports a visit to the island he was to make from December 8 to 10. “After exchange with local elected officials, it was collectively considered that the climate was not favorable to a trip. This will be postponed in January,” a source close to the Minister told the world.

Thursday 1 er December, in the morning, the police officers of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) arrested three men, in Ajaccio, as part of a judicial information opened by the prosecution National anti -terrorist (PNAT) for “criminal association with a view to preparing terrorist acts”. Among them, Pierre Paoli, a leader of the independence movement Corsica Libera, suspected of being one of the main leaders of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC). These arrests did not fail to arouse the disapproval of several elected nationalists and gatherings took place Thursday and Friday in Ajaccio.

This sdat and anti -terrorist justice operation is part of a context of resurgence of attacks on the island against secondary residences for several months. In September 2021, a new armed group called “FLNC Maghju 21” (May 21) became known at a clandestine press conference in which several dozen hooded and armed men had participated.

“Preserve the quality of exchanges”

At the end of police custody in the premises of the Ajaccio judicial police, two men were released on Sunday December 4 without any prosecution. The third was to be transferred to Paris on Monday December 5 to be presented to justice for an indictment.

Pierre Paoli came out free. “No charge has been held against him, said his lawyer to the world, Jean-François Casalta. We wonder why it took them three days to reach this conclusion. Perhaps to allow the Minister of the interior to justify the cancellation of his visit, “he quipped.

It has now been two months since the discussions started at the end of July between the government and the island elected officials are interrupted. They had been launched with great fanfare on July 21 in the salons of the Noirmoutier hotel in Paris in the presence of twenty -one Corsican elected representatives representing all the island’s political forces, nationalists or not. Immediately followed by a ministerial displacement on the island between July 22 and 24, they had to continue at the rate of a meeting every six weeks.

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