French Court Finds Shepherd Guilty of Corsica Hit

A French court found shepherd Yvan Colonna guilty of killing France's top government representative in Corsica in 1998, and sentenced him to life in jail, according to a ruling read out following a month-long trial.

The murder of Claude Erignac was the most serious political assassination in France since World War Two and marked the peak of nationalist violence on the unruly Mediterranean island.

Colonna has always denied the killing and accused erstwhile friends in the murky nationalist movement of hiding the identity of the real murderer.

Prosecutors failed to produce any eyewitnesses placing him at the scene of the killing on Feb. 6, 1998, when Erignac was shot in the back of the head as he walked to a classical music concert.

However, they told the court during the month-long trial that circumstantial evidence and initial statements from known nationalists made it clear Colonna pulled the trigger. (