Prefect assassin targets president

CORSICAN nationalist Yvan Colonna goes to court today in the second round of his civil case accusing President Nicolas Sarkozy of infringing his right to a presumption of innocence.

Colonna was found guilty in March of the 1998 assassination of Prefect Claude Èrignac – but has started a lawsuit in the tribunal de grande instance in Paris over a 2007 speech made by Sarkozy which announced his arrest and named him as the killer.

Sarkozy said: “It’s not just me who thinks he’s the killer. If not, I don't think they would have kept him in prison.”