“Life is beautiful to regain freedom!” Serge Lazarevic, the last French hostage in the world until his release announced on Tuesday, returned to France on Wednesday morning, after more than three years of captivity in the Sahel in the hands of al-Qaeda. Black jacket, beige trousers and wide smile, he was received shortly after 7 am to 45 descent of the government plane that brought him back from Niamey, on the Parisian Villacoublay air base by President Francois Hollande. In light rain and a cold wind, he embraced his family. He then hugged at length the son of Philippe Verdon, another French kidnapped with him by a group of armed men while on a business trip, November 24, 2011 at a hotel in Hombori in northern Mali .dr opoff window Philippe Verdon was found dead with a bullet in the head in July 2013.
“Being hostage, it’s a bit complicated, it is not very simple,” said Serge Lazarevic in a short speech. “I do not have a lot of forces,” has he apologized. “Life is beautiful”, echoed him in a cry of joy his daughter Diane, who had picked him up Tuesday night in Niger with officials of the Quai d’Orsay. It must be taken to a military hospital for tests. “The doctor gave him a check-up on the plane and he’s fine,” the Foreign Ministry. The former hostage told to be “tired”, “hyper tense”, but “happy to be alive” after detention conditions “overall” satisfactory.
Franco-Serbian Colossus
This Franco-Serbian colossus of 51 years, 1.98 m and 120 kg at the time of his abduction, was received Tuesday in Niamey by Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou. “I lost twenty pounds, but it’s okay, I’m in shape,” he had said at the first public appearance. His beard seen in the last video showing the broadcast in mid-November by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has given way to a well-trimmed goatee pepper and salt, a thin face revealing more prominent cheekbones.
In the video, he claimed to be ill. But according to the Elysee, it is “relatively healthy despite the very harsh conditions of his long captivity.” At the announcement of his release, the president Hollande had welcomed the fact that France has “no more hostage, in any country in the world.” It “should not rely hostage,” he had said. “I want to launch a simple, clear message to all our compatriots who may be in areas at risk: make sure not to go where you can be removed,” insisted at Villacoublay the head of state <. / p>
“Freedom is more than just”
“Never forget that being a free man is to pay attention to itself, wherever you go . Be careful because freedom is more than just, “assented Serge Lazarevic. In February 2013, France had counted up to 15 hostages at the same time in the world; she lamented another six on 1 January. But in April, the four journalists kidnapped in Syria were released while a jihadist movement announced the death of Gilberto Rodrigues Leal, captured in November 2012 in western Mali. The mountain guide Hervé Gourdel himself has killed late September four days after his abduction in Algeria by a group linked to the organization Islamic state.
The circumstances of the release Serge Lazarevic were not clearly detailed. According to a Malian security source, it took place in the region of Kidal in northern Mali. Paris thanked the Presidents of Mali and Niger for their “personal commitment”, referring to “many months” of “discussions”. Asked about the reports of the release of prisoners of AQIM in exchange for the hostage, the spokesman of the government Stéphane Le Foll has neither confirmed nor denied. “There has both negotiations, diplomatic relay” and “discretion” has he simply said.
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