Hostages charged for rescue

last updated 8 January 2015

Berlin

German tourists taken hostage in the Sahara desert this year have been asked to reimburse the German government for their rescue. Ten of the 15 Europeans seized by Islamic militants in Algeria were German; one of them died. The German government is believed to have paid a large ransom to gain the release of the nine survivors, who were let go in August after five months in captivity. Those survivors said this week that they had been told to cough up around $2,000 each to cover the costs of flying hostage negotiators to Algeria, as well as their own flight home. Ex-hostage Rainer Bracht said the request was unfair. “Someone taken captive on a bus in Bremen wouldn’t have to pay for their rescue,” he said. The former hostages also complained that they’d been banned from selling their stories to the media.