{"id":72962,"date":"2014-12-10T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=72962"},"modified":"2014-12-09T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T22:01:12","slug":"last-french-hostage-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/last-french-hostage-released\/","title":{"rendered":"Last French hostage released"},"content":{"rendered":"
The last French hostage to be held by Islamist militants has been freed after three years, French President Francois Hollande has announced.<\/p>\n
Serge Lazarevic was snatched in Mali in November 2011 along with fellow Frenchman Philippe Verdon.<\/p>\n
Militants from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group killed Mr Verdon last year in retaliation for France’s intervention in Mali.<\/p>\n
Mr Hollande said there were no more French hostages waiting to be freed.<\/p>\n
Mr Lazarevic, he said, was in “relatively good health” despite the conditions of his captivity and was on his way to the neighbouring country of Niger from where he would return to France.<\/p>\n
AQIM kidnapped a number of Western hostages before the French military deployed its forces against the group in January 2013.<\/p>\n
There were at one point at least 14 French nationals being held by Islamists in West Africa.<\/p>\n
“There are no more French hostages in any country in the world,” Mr Hollande said.<\/p>\n
He thanked the authorities in Niger and Mali, who had “worked towards this happy outcome”.<\/p>\n
There have been no details about how the release of Mr Lazarevic was secured.<\/p>\n
The French government has repeatedly denied paying ransoms for hostages.<\/p>\n