MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) – The last French hostage held by Al-Qaeda’s North African branch has been freed, French President Francois Hollande announced.
The 50-year-old Frenchman, Serge Lazarevic, was released on Tuesday, and will be repatriated to France from Niger’s capital Niamey, according to France 24.
“He was the last French hostage still held overseas,” French foreign minister Laurent Fabius stated in an official release.
Le président @fhollande est heureux d’annoncer la libération de Serge Lazarevic retenu en otage depuis plus de 3 ans pic.twitter.com/YuSsmPdS5B
— Élysée (@Elysee) 9 декабря 2014
In an official communiqué, Hollande thanked the security forces of Mali and Niger, as well the two countries’ presidents for helping secure Lazarevic’s release.
A 50-year-old businessman, Lazarevic, who holds French and Serbian citizenship was kidnapped from a hotel in Mali in 2011, AP reported. He was last seen in a video released by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) last year. Sjaak Rikke, a Dutch hostage whose condition is still unknown, was also shown in the video.
Lazarevic was kidnapped alongside French geologist Philippe Verdon who was killed by AQIM last year, according to Euronews, in what the fighters said was retaliation for French military intervention in Mali.
