Serge Lazarevic, the last French hostage held in the world, is “free,” said Francois Hollande, Tuesday, December 9.
Serge Lazarevic had been held since November 24, 2011 by Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb Islamic. It appeared on November 17, filmed in the cockpit of a pickup , a short video released by the terrorist group.
Barbe provided, thin, black hat and gray tunic, he claimed to be ill and felt that his life was in danger.
Colossus of 1.98 m and 120 pounds, Serge Lazarevic , 51, who has dual French and Serbian nationality, was kidnapped in Mali with Philippe Verdon he accompanied on a business trip. A group of armed men had taken of them in their hotel in Hombori (north).
Philippe Verdon was found dead with a bullet in the head in July 2013.
Released in Kidal in northern Mali
“We heard the news by the President of Niger. I want to thank, as well as Malian President “, briefly stated François Hollande after the announcement of the release. “France has no more hostage, in any country in the world”, he concluded.
“There certainly has an uncertainty Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, but we have the blackest information about it, “said the head of state, referring to the French kidnapped in November 2012 in Mali, whose Movement for the uniqueness and jihad in Africa west (Mujao) announced the death last April.
The release of Serge Lazarevic took place near Kidal, bastion of the rebellion, including Tuareg in northern Mali, according to a security source in Mali speaking on condition of anonymity.
“By the time I speak, the hostage is in Niamey or en route to Niamey,” the source said , refusing to “say whether there has been paying ransom or release of prisoners.”
According iTélé Diane Lazarevic’s daughter Serge Lazarevic, would have already flown to Niamey, with officials from the Foreign Ministry. The plane bringing the freed hostages should land Wednesday morning at the air base in Velizy-Villacoublay, near Paris, according to the news channel, which indicates that Serge Lazarevic will be hosted by Francois Hollande.
“In relatively healthy”
“Serge Lazarevic will reach Niamey and France. It is relatively healthy, despite the very harsh conditions of his long captivity. He will soon be repatriated to France, “said the Elysee in a statement in which thanks are extended to Nigerian and Malian authorities,” including [the ] President Issoufou and [the] President Keita. “
” The president once again salutes the memory of Philippe Verdon who was abducted with Serge Lazarevic and who was murdered by his captors ” adds the Elysian statement
Valls. “A long ordeal ends”
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has responded to this release Twitter:
President of the National Assembly Claude Bartolone has also expressed his “relief” on Twitter at the announcement of the release:
Later, speaking to MPs at the Palais Bourbon, Claude Bartolone expressed “joy” of the Assembly to know Serge Lazarevic “soon among us.” A statement that the parliamentarians responded with a standing ovation.
Sarkozy greets a “happy ending”
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed on Twitter This “happy ending.” The new president of the UMP, however, that it “should not make us forget the memory of our compatriots cowardly murdered by terrorists”
The Nigerian presidency has, meanwhile, stressed the “intense and followed both the Niger authorities of Mali.”
Serge Lazarevic is a “rock”, according to his daughter
“A rock” is Diane and her father Serge Lazarevic described. Born in Belgrade on 18 June 1963, he worked in the areas of security and construction, before embarking late on a project in Africa.
In claiming his removal and that of Philippe Verdon, AQIM had introduced the two men as agents of the French intelligence services. Suspicions that had been a moment in the media supported by the personality of Philippe Verdon, found dead with a bullet in the head in July 2013, described by his family as a jack-of-all tying at adventurer spent Sudan to Madagascar through the Comoros.
As for Serge Lazarevic, he had been confused with a namesake, a mercenary in the Balkans and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Franco-Serbian hostage would have been held by the same rebel leader who murdered two French journalists RFI in November 2013.
Detained in with Thierry Dol
Serge Lazarevic was detained for nearly a month in the company of Thierry Dol, one of the four hostages working for the French nuclear group Areva and a subsidiary of Vinci in Niger, held for three years before being released in October 2013.
But the two men had not been able to speak, according to Diane Lazarevic. “They were all under a tree, with a ban on talking [...] They could just make signs, thumbs up to say it was going, no thumb on the days when it was going less well,” -t she said.
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