Romania's Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu has thanked his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita for the "fundamental" role played by the Moroccan intellignce services in the process of releasing Romanian Iulian Ghergut, who was abducted eight years ago in Burkina Faso.
The two ministers had a telephone conversation on Friday, highlighting the bilateral Romanian-Moroccan co-operation in various fields such as industry, agriculture, education and research, emergency management, military co-operation or judicial co-operation.
Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) announced on Wednesday the release of Ghergut.
Ghergut, who worked as a security guard at a manganese mine in Tambao, in the northern African state of Burkina Faso, was kidnapped in 2015 and held hostage by the Islamist group Al-Mourabitoun, along with other foreign nationals. The Romanian was taken hostage on April 4, 2015, in an ambush on an SUV he was patrolling in, according to AFP.
At the time of the kidnapping, an inter-institutional crisis cell was formed that included MAE, the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), the Defence Ministry (MApN), and the Presidential Administration.
The Romanian then appeared in a video recording broadcast online.
Later, prosecutors with Romania's DIICOT Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terror opened a file in which the criminal prosecution in rem for acts of terrorism in connection with the kidnapping of the Romanian, began.
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