AJACCIO - Corsica's best known hardline separatist leader, Francois Santoni, gave himself up on the French Mediterranean island hours after police arrested his companion yesterday, police said. Santoni, who had been living rough for months, surrendered in the northern town, Bastia.
Santoni is head of the Cuncolta Naziunalista party, the legal wing of the outlawed Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC)-Historical Wing, which police hold responsible for dozens of bomb attacks against public buildings on Corsica in the past few months. Police were seeking him to serve a sentence already passed on arms charges.