A Swiss woman and an Austrian woman kidnapped in Niger more than a year and a half ago have been freed, Bern and Vienna announced Thursday.
Swiss national Claudia Abbt, 69, arrived in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi together with 76-year-old Eva Gretzmacher, Libyan media outlets reported earlier, following an intervention from the military commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya and parts of the south.
Gretzmacher was taken on January 11, 2025, while Abbt was captured in April last year. No group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions.
“The Swiss citizen who was kidnapped in Niger on April 13, 2025, has been released,” the foreign ministry in Bern said in a statement.
“She was met in Benghazi, Libya, by Swiss federal administration staff and received medical care. She is doing well under the circumstances and is currently on her way back to Switzerland.”
Meanwhile, Vienna confirmed that Gretzmacher had been freed, and was received by an Austrian crisis response team earlier Thursday following “intensive diplomatic efforts to secure her release.”
“We are all very relieved that Eva G. is free again after more than 21 months. This period has been an unimaginable ordeal for her and her family,” Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a statement.
