The septuagenarian was kidnapped in December 2016 in Gao then released thn October 2020.
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“I am at home here. ” Former Franco-Swiss hostage Sophie Pétronin defended herself, Wednesday, November 3, from having acted irresponsibly by returning to Mali. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal had shortly before denounced a “form of irresponsibility” on his part, vis-à-vis “his security” but also vis-à-vis “the security of our military”.
“When we have nationals who are taken hostage abroad, it is our soldiers who will rescue them at the risk of their lives. We have soldiers who have been killed in the course of operations to rescue hostages who had been taken prisoner in foreign countries “, underlined Gabriel Attal, who asked for “respect for our soldiers”.
The septuagenarian was kidnapped in December 2016 in Gao. In October 2020, without real consultation with Paris, the new Malian regime decided to release several dozen prisoners arrested during anti-jihadist operations in exchange for four hostages, including Franco-Swiss Sophie Pétronin. She had been greeted when she got off the plane in Villacoublay by Emmanuel Macron.
But Sophie Pétronin, who adopted a girl in Mali, had expressed, as soon as she was released, her intention to return there. According to Mediapart, the former hostage, aged 76, returned to Mali last March and has been staying there since, information that Gabriel Attal did not wish to comment on.