Skip to main content
France - Mali

France vows to punish Mali's Mujao for hostage's death

The death of French hostage Gilberto Rodrigues Leal will not go unpunished, French President François Hollande declared after Mali-based jihadi group Mujao on Tuesday announced that it had killed him.

Gilberto Rodriguez Leal when he was a prisoner of Mujao
Gilberto Rodriguez Leal when he was a prisoner of Mujao AFP
Advertising

"France will do all it can to find out the truth about what happened to Gilberto Rodrigues Leal and will not leave this crime unpunished," Hollande said in a statement.

Although Mujao announced that it had killed him because France "is our enemy", the government believes that Leal, a French citizen of Portuguese origin, died several weeks ago "due to the conditions of his captivity", the statement said.

The foreign affairs ministry said that it had warned his relatives that it feared he was dead in December.

Leal, who was retired, was abducted on 20 November on 2012 in western Mali.

On Sunday, after the liberation of four French journalists who were being held in Syria, Interior Minister Laurent Fabius said that he was "very worried" about Leal's situation.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.