Alessandro Sandrini, a Brescia native
who was taken hostage near the Turkey-Syria border in October
2016, has been released by an anti-government group near Idlib,
the militia said Wednesday.
The self-styled 'government of salvation' published photos of
Sandrini, 32, on social network and said that he had been in the
hands of a gang of criminals.
Sandrini's father said in Brescia: "I can confirm it, my son
is free, he's still in Syria but in the hands of our
Carabinieri".
"I'm over the moon," said Gianfranco Sandrini, it's the end
of a nightmare, now I'm going to Rome, I hope I can speak to him
on the phone tonight".
Sandrini's kidnapping was only reported in December 2017, a
year after he disappeared after travelling to Turkey in October
2016.
Then, after four phone calls to his mother over the course of
several months, a dramatic video was posted showing him in an
orange jumpsuit and guarded by two men with AK-47s.
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