Former Corsican nationalist leader shot dead at his mother's funeral

BarcelonaFormer Corsican nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, a key figure in the independence movement of the 1980s, was killed on Monday after being shot dead during his mother's funeral in southern Corsica. Authorities on the French island have opened an investigation into the incident, which is attributed to a sniper who fled after the shooting, which took place in the early afternoon in the town of Vero. There are no leads yet on the motive for the attack. Orsoni, 71, was part of the leadership of the Hearts National Liberation Front (FLNC) during the 1980s, before founding and leading the Movement for Self-Determination (MPA). His brother Guy was killed in 1983, and his son, who shared his uncle's name, was a prominent figure in organized crime on the island.

In the 1990s, he left Corsica for several years, weakened by the internal struggles within the independence movement, which led him to undertake several businesses, linked to gambling, in Florida, Nicaragua, and Spain. He returned in 2008, the year in which the police thwarted a plot to assassinate him. On the Mediterranean island, he was also known for having presided over the Ajaccio football club between 2008 and 2015.