Former president of AC Ajaccio assassinated at mother's funeral

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 13 Jan 2026 04:50 CST
• 3 min read

Nieuws

Alain Orsoni, former president of French side AC Ajaccio, has been killed following a shooting at his mother's funeral.

A militant separatist, Orsoni was a member of The National Liberation Front of Corsica, a group fiercely in favour of Corsica becoming independent from France.

Orsoni was a former politician and was previously been a part of paramilitary group Organisation armée secrète (OAS, Secret Army Organisation) during the Algerian war before beginning his pursuit of Corsican independence.

🔴⚡️ L'ex-dirigeant nationaliste corse Alain Orsoni a été abattu aux obsèques de sa mère. Âgé de 71 ans, ce militant nationaliste avait déjà été visé par un projet d'assassinat en 2008. #JT20h pic.twitter.com/MLccY4TvVa

— Le20h-France Télévisions (@le20hfrancetele) January 12, 2026

His death was believed to have been an assassination by an organised crime group.

"He was ​hit by a long-range shot," prosecutor Nicolas ​Septe said.

"It was a moment of grief and mourning. Suddenly we heard a shot, and Alain fell, dead," said Francis Roger Polge, the priest who conducted the service for France 3 Corse ViaStella television.

The shooting took place in Vero, the capital of Corsica 30 kilometres away from Ajaccio. It was Orsoni's mother's funeral and there were around 50 witnesses to the incident.

Initially a police investigation, the case has been passed on to the National Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime alongside the Specialised Interregional Jurisdiction of Marseille.

Orsoni has been previously linked to domestic shootings and was once forced to flee Corsica, spending time in Nicaragua, Florida and Barcelona among lots of other locations. He survived two previous assassination attempts, with the one before his death coming in 2008 after he took over as president of AC Ajaccio.

The 2008 assassination attempt was made by Corsican mafia group Brise de Mer. Former Grosseto-Prugna mayor Marie-Jeanne Bozzi was among the individuals indicted for the attempt on his life.