The correspondent in Mali was detained for 711 days after being kidnapped in Gao on April 8, 2021.
French journalist Olivier Dubois, who had been imprisoned in Mali since April 8, 2021, for 711 days, was released on Monday, reports Liberation newspaper, for which he was a correspondent. He was arrested by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
Stepping off the plane at Niamey (Niger) airport, Olivier Dubois appeared smiling and visibly moved, wearing an open white shirt and beige trousers.
“It’s great for me to be here, to be free, I didn’t expect it at all,” he told the journalists present and thanked the action of Niger and France for his release. He also said he was in a hurry to find his family.
“I feel tired but I’m fine,” he said.
This release was a “great relief”, responded Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and specified that it was “the longest (captivity) for a French journalist since the war in Lebanon”.
“We had received several reassuring messages over the past few months, and again recently: he appeared to be in good health but we were concerned about the length of his confinement,” commented RSF General Secretary Christophe Deloire.
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