Portuguese businessman killed in Corsica’s latest murder

A Portuguese businessman was shot dead Tuesday in Corsica, the 18th person killed in the French island this year despite a security build-up in a region with Europe’s highest homicide rate.

Victor Ribeiro, 45, was shot dead at a petrol pump in the picturesque area of Prunete-Cervione, south of the port city of Bastia, a source close to the probe said.

Ribeiro was a contractor for public works projects.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira expressed her “astonishment” over the killing and pledged in a statement to “re-establish the rule of law” on the Mediterranean island.

The government has promised more resources for police trying to crack down on money-laundering and racketeering and to stem an increasingly deadly battle between criminal gangs in Corsica.

The situation is complicated by the fact that sections of a Corsican nationalist movement that has waged a long-running, low-level armed struggle for independence from France appear to have become involved with organised crime.

Many of the victims of the recent killings were or had been prominent figures in the separatist movement.