Germany Says No Public Money Paid for Syria Hostage Release
The German government said it did not pay to secure the release earlier this year of a 27-year-old German national kidnapped in Syria by jihadist militants.
Following a report the man's family paid a ransom to win his freedom, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer declined to comment in detail on the case.
But he hit back at speculation that Berlin had paid a hefty sum to get him back.
"The German government cannot be blackmailed," Schaefer told reporters.
"What I can tell you about this specific case is that no public money flowed to secure the release of the person in question."
He called kidnappings part of the "perverse, treacherous strategy" of the jihadist group now calling itself Islamic State which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday that the German taken by IS jihadists around a year ago had been released.
The man, identified in the German media only as Toni N., went missing after travelling to Syria in June 2013 with the intention of offering "humanitarian aid".
Earlier this year, his family received a video containing a ransom demand and also showing the execution of another hostage, according to the report.
The German authorities -- including the federal police, the intelligence services and the foreign ministry -- subsequently entered into negotiations with the kidnappers, the report said.
The daily Bild reported Monday that the man's family had paid an unspecified ransom.
It said Toni N. and another captive, 25-year-old Danish freelance photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen, were taken to the Syrian border and handed over to Turkish police in June.
U.S. journalist James Foley was kidnapped in late 2012 in northern Syria by IS fighters, who last week released a video showing him being beheaded.
But on Sunday, another American hostage held by rebels in Syria for 22 months was freed after Qatari mediation.
Source: Agence France Presse
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