The Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna, who was assaulted earlier this month in prison in an attack that sparked rioting on the French Mediterranean island, has died, his family announced on Monday.
Colonna, who had been jailed for life over the murder of a police chief in 1998, died in the evening in hospital in the southern French city of Marseille, his lawyer Patrice Spinosi told AFP on behalf of the family.
"The family requests that its grief is respected and will be making no comment," Spinosi added.
A police source, who asked not to be named, also confirmed to AFP that Colonna, had died.
One of France's most prominent prisoners, 61 year-old Colonna was left in a coma after being beaten on 2 March in jail in the southern French city of Arles by a fellow detainee serving time for terror offences.
The incident stoked anger on the island, where some still see Colonna as a hero in a fight for independence, and sparked the worst clashes for years between protesters and police.
Conservative presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse described Colonna's death as a "tragedy" and called for calm on the island.
"I call on everyone to keep their calm and not add fuel to the fire in Corsica, this is absolutely essential in the current context," she told CNews television on Monday night.
Autonomy
Colonna was arrested in 2003 after a five-year manhunt that eventually found him living as a shepherd in the Corsican mountains.
He was then sentenced to life for the assassination in 1998 of Corsica's top regional official Claude Erignac.
In a bid to dampen local anger over his prison assault, the French judiciary on 17 March suspended Colonna's prison sentence for medical reasons.
In a surprise move, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also said in a newspaper interview last week that the government could be prepared to offer Corsica autonomy.
President Emmanuel Macron then said that the issue of autonomy of Corsica should not be a "taboo debate".
But he added there must be an end to the unrest before a discussion gets underway. "It is a debate that cannot take place until there is absolute calm," he said.
Darmanin's comments and subsequent visit to Corsica had helped ease tensions and it remains to be seen how nationalists will react to his death.
Supporters of Colonna had long urged his release or at least transfer to a prison in Corsica from mainland France but it was only after the assault that the government began to take steps in this direction.
Corsica's pro-autonomy regional council president, Gilles Simeoni, told AFP that Darmanin's proposals were "important words that open up prospects, but they ought now to be extended and firmed up."
Denial
The National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), which carried out deadly attacks for decades before laying down its arms in 2014, warned earlier this month that it could resume its fight if Paris remains in a state of "contemptuous denial."
Many Corsicans are frustrated that a reform of the island's status has been on ice since 2018, with many demanding increased control over fiscal policy and hiring policies, and the expanded use of the Corsican language.
The debate on the issue has intensified at a hugely sensitive moment, with France preparing for April presidential elections and the right warning Macron not to give an inch on the island's French identity.
Talks on autonomy will begin in April and should be wrapped up by the end of this year, according to a memorandum agreed by Darmanin and Simeoni.
Colonna's assailant Franck Elong Abe, who had been jailed for terror-related offences, has been charged with another terror offence for the attack on Colonna.
Prosecutors have said he attacked his fellow inmate after being angered by his "blaspheming" and alleged mocking of the prophet Mohammed.
Investigators said Abe attacked Colonna while he was working out in the prison gym by pulling a bag over his head and strangling him.
(with wires)
