This Saturday August 20 marks the 500th day since the kidnapping of Olivier Dubois. Kidnapped on April 8, 2021 in Gao, in northern Mali, the French journalist has since been detained by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims. Pierre Legrand, one of Arlit’s ex-hostages, kidnapped in Niger in 2010 by AQIM and finally released in 2013, looks back on his experience.
Olivier Dubois explains that he is being held by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi) in two videos : two proofs of life released by his captors in May 2021 and March 2022. To mark this sad 500th day of captivity, Pierre Legrand, one of the ex-hostages of Arlit, kidnapped in Niger in 2010 by AQMI and finally released in 2013 after three years of captivity, testifies. He looks back on this painful experience and tells how he managed to hold on:
To get through the day, I was rather focused on everything around me, the places, the people, the environment too, and understanding what was going on around me, which was not always easy. Then, when I was falling asleep, I allowed myself to think about my family and my friends especially, thinking about the family was a bit… I didn’t want to think about it too much because it was a bit hard, so I was thinking above all of my friends, imagining what they were organizing to support me, and after several months, even years, when I finally had information and also a little access to the radio , I was able to hear my friends who were mobilizing, via RFI by the way, which is the only radio station to which I was able to have some access. It’s something that made me say: “Here, my friends do things for me, well, I have to be on my side to maintain myself and come back. In addition to strength, it made me smile, and it was pleasant for me.
After 500 days of captivity of Olivier Dubois, the ex-hostage Pierre Legrand explains how to hold
According to the man who was one of the ex-hostages of Arlit, kidnapped in Niger in 2010 by AQMI and finally released in 2013, after three years of captivity, the lack of visibility of the fate of the french journalist is ” regrettable “.
I don’t know Olivier Dubois, but I had the opportunity to meet one of his friends this weekend at the Vieux Gréements festival in Paimpol. [le festival s’est tenu du 12 au 14 août, NDLR] where we were at a stand of SOS Hostages, and all weekend we had postcards signed to send to the President of the Republic to ask for his release, we had a petition signed and we were also able to talk about his captivity , to explain his work, why he was there, to inform people because few people knew, they were very curious, for some they had never heard of what had happened to him, others had heard of it talk about it but they were surprised that it wasn’t talked about more, unlike me, for example, during my captivity when people said to me: “But regularly, at least once a week, we talked about you” and there they were surprised that there weren’t the same things for Olivier.
The ex-hostage Pierre Legrand regrets the lack of visibility of Olivier Dubois
Olivier Dubois’ family is organizing an online demonstration on Sunday August 21, on the accounts ” Family Olivier Dubois Journalist on social media.