Former Corsican separatist leader Alain Orsoni was shot dead during his mother's funeral on Monday in Vero, a village 30 kilometres east of Ajaccio, the capital of the Mediterranean French island, the city's public prosecutor said.
"He was hit by a long-range shot," prosecutor Nicolas Septe said. Local police confirmed the assassination.
“It was a moment of sorrow and grief. Suddenly we heard a gunshot, and Alain collapsed, dead,” Father Roger Polge, who officiated at the funeral service, told France 3 Corse ViaStella channel. “What is happening in our home?"
Le Monde newspaper said the prosecutor had opened an investigation into murder by an organised gang.
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
07:26
Orsoni, 71, led a separatist movement called the Corsican Movement for Self-Determination, which French police considered to be the legal front for the armed group, the Corsican National Liberation Front-Traditional Wing.
Authorities linked the Corsican National Liberation Front-Traditional Wing to a series of attacks on the island in the 1990s, some of which the group claimed.
Orsoni was also charged, convicted and later pardoned in connection with a machine gun attack on the Iranian embassy in Paris in 1980.
Orsoni was also the president of Corsican football club AC Ajaccio in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP)
English (US) · 