The 71-year-old man had just paid his respects to his late mother on the island of Corsica when he was targeted by a killer lying in wait at the cemetery, authorities said.

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The former head of the AC Ajaccio football club, was shot dead during his mother’s funeral on January 12Credit: AFP
 

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Alain became president of AC Ajaccio in 2008Credit: Getty
 

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Police officers work at the crime scene at the cemeteryCredit: AFP
Alain Orsoni, a former Corsican separatist leader and former president of the AC Ajaccio Football Club, was struck by a single bullet to the chest, police said.

Father Roger Polge had finished conducting the funeral ceremony for Alain’s mother, Marinette Orsoni, 92, when mourners heard a gun shot.

“It was a moment of sorrow and grief, suddenly, we heard a gunshot, and Alain fell dead,” Father Polge told France3.

Emergency services were called to the cemetery on the Mediterranean French island around 4pm but Alain could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead.

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Local media have reported an investigation into the murder has been opened, with the focus being on organised crime.

“He was hit by a long-range shot,” prosecutor Nicolas Septe, told Reuters.

Alain, who had been living in Nicaragua for many years, had previously survived an assassination attempt in 2008 that was foiled by police.

Members of the Petit Bar criminal gang in Corsica were convicted for the murder plot in 2011.

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In 2008, he succeeded his friend Michel Moretti, a former nationalist who had just died, as president of the Athletic Club Ajaccio (ACA) football club.

He resigned last year from AC Ajaccio when the club was placed into receivership, unable to meet its debts estimated at €13.5 million, as reported by lepoint.

In the 80s, he had been a prominent member of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) before founding the Movement for Self-Determination (MPA).

French police considered MPA to be the legal front for the armed group, the Corsican National Liberation Front-Traditional Wing.

Authorities linked the Corsican National Liberation Front-Traditional Wing to a series of attacks on the island in the 1990s, some of which the group claimed.

Orsoni was also charged, convicted and later pardoned in connection with a machine gun attack on the Iranian embassy in Paris in 1980.

He left Corsica in 1996 amid a fratricidal war within the nationalist movement and was “exiled” to Florida, before moving to Nicaragua but still visited Corsica regularly to run football club.

His brother Guy had been assassinated in 1983, a name which he later gave to his son, a figure in Corsican organised crime.

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Alain was the former president of AC AjaccioCredit: Getty
 

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Alain Orsoni, a prominent figure in Corsican nationalism, was shot dead on Monday, January 12, in Vero, during his mother’s funeral.Credit: FTV
 

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Police collect evidence at the crime sceneCredit: AFP
It comes after a woman was shot dead by a car of armed men while attending the funeral of a star footballer who had also been gunned down.

The horrific incident took place as the 39-year-old was leaving the funeral service of her friend – the star Ecuadorian player Mario Pineida, who was shot and killed alongside his partner.

Karen Grunauer Franco, a friend of the murdered couple, was being driven away from the parish when gunmen in another car opened fire.

Tragically, the content creator was found dead in the middle of the road, riddled with gunshot wounds.

It is understood Karen was a new friend of Mario’s partner Guisella Fernández Ramírez.

Mario was a fullback who played for Barcelona de Guayaquil and the Ecuador national team.

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The 33-year-old was killed alongside Guisella last Wednesday in an armed attack at a butcher shop in northern Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Lieutenant Colonel Luis Obando López said police were investigating possible links between the two shootings.

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Police officers work at the crime scene where former Corsican nationalist leader Alain Orsoni has been shot deadCredit: AFP
 

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Alain was often seen as a controversial figure at the heart of Corsica nationalism.Credit: AFP