Corsicans protest after murder verdict confirmed

AJACCIO, France (Reuters) - Thousands of Corsicans marched on Saturday to support Yvan Colonna, whose conviction for murdering a senior French official was upheld in an appeal trial deemed unfair by many on the restive Mediterranean island.

On the fringes of the march, small groups of youths torched rubbish bins and threw firecrackers at police, who fired teargas at them.

Colonna was first sentenced in 2007 for the 1998 murder of Claude Erignac, who as prefect of Corsica embodied the power of the French state on an island with a history of separatist violence. Colonna, a Corsican shepherd, says he is innocent.

A Paris appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction and lengthened the sentence to life in jail with a minimum prison time of 22 years. The original life sentence, without that specified minimum, could have allowed him out after 18 years.

Thousands of people marched on Saturday through the Corsican capital Ajaccio behind a banner reading "Justice for Yvan." There were cries of "liberta," Corsican for freedom.

"This is a judicial scandal. It's about revenge, not the search for justice. We're angry and we'll keep fighting. It's beyond a judicial debate. It's about our democracy," Christine Colonna, the shepherd's sister, told the crowd in Corsican.

Colonna's appeal trial, which began on February 9, was a political minefield for the French justice system.

His defense lawyers argued it was a show trial in which the shepherd could not get a fair hearing because he was up against the full might of a state bent on revenge.

The court denied it was under pressure to deliver a conviction and insisted that the French justice system is independent from politics.

After a month of chaotic hearings, repeatedly suspended because of vitriolic attacks on the court, Colonna and his lawyers walked out on March 11 and refused to return. One of his lawyers said the court was "worthy of Myanmar."

Their arguments resonated with the public in Corsica, where many have a negative view of the French state. Separatist groups that were previously in the doldrums gained new momentum by rallying around Colonna, according to the Corsican press.

Several well-known separatist leaders and politicians took part in the Ajaccio march. Police said 3,500 people took part in the protest, while organizers put the figure at 10,000.

Erignac, who was shot in the head on his way to the theater in Ajaccio, was the most senior person killed in three decades of separatist violence in Corsica. A more common tactic is to bomb empty holiday homes owned by people from mainland France.

(Reporting by Pierre Constantini; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Louise Ireland and Jonathan Wright)