France’s last remaining hostage, Serge Lazarevic, arrived home yesterday after three years at the hands of Muslim militants, to be greeted by his family and French President Francois Hollande.
The beaming 51-year-old, dressed casually in a blue hooded top, was welcomed warmly by Hollande at a military airport outside Paris before an emotional embrace with his mother and sister.
Lazarevic, sporting a closely cropped beard, shared a joke with Hollande and the rest of his family after exiting the jet with his daughter.
“I had forgotten what it is like to be free. I will never forget it again,” Lazarevic told reporters. “Be careful, because freedom is dearer than anything. When you’ve been taken, when you’re being abused, when you’re lost, when you’re close to death, you think more about life,” he added.
Hollande said it was “an enormous joy” to see him back on French soil.
“Welcome back, Mr Lazarevic, we’ve been waiting for you for three years,” the president said.
Lazarevic was expected to be taken immediately to a military hospital for checkups before returning to his family, according to a diplomatic source.
“The doctor gave him a checkup on the plane and he’s doing well,” the source said.
Lazarevic was the last of more than a dozen French citizens who had been taken captive in recent years, with those held in Africa reaching a high of 15 last year. Four journalists held by Syrian Muslim militants were released earlier this year.
Lazarevic was freed after intensive efforts by Niger and Mali. There was no immediate information on how the release was secured or whether France paid a ransom.
Lazarevic was snatched by armed men in Mali on Nov. 24, 2011, while on a business trip with fellow Frenchman Philippe Verdon in a kidnapping claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Verdon, who suffered from an ulcer and tachycardia — an abnormally fast heartbeat — was found shot dead last year, and those close to his family suggested he had been executed because he was weak.
Speaking in the capital of Niger after meeting with Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou following his release, Lazarevic said: “I lost about 20 kilos, but I’m in fine shape. I would like to thank the president of Niger [and] the people of Niger, who worked with France for my freedom.”
A Malian security source said the final stages of Lazarevic’s release had taken place in the northern desert city of Kidal.
“I won’t say if there was a ransom payment or liberation of prisoners,” the source told reporters.
In his three years in captivity, Lazarevic appeared in several AQIM videos, including one last month in which he said he was gravely ill and believed his life was in danger.
While the details of Lazarevic’s release were not given, France has repeatedly denied paying ransoms despite being accused by other Western nations of using back-channels to do so.
“France does not pay ransoms, nor does France engage in prisoner exchanges,” Hollande said in September.
However, he added: “This does not mean that countries do not do it. It has happened that some countries, to help us, do it. That I concede.”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS