Kidnapped Italian doctor finally returns to Rome

By Libya Herald reporter.

Tripoli, 14 June, 2015:

Retired Italian orthopedic surgeon Ignazio Scaravilli, kidnapped last January and freed over a week . . .[restrict]ago, has finally flown back to Italy.

“He just left the country on a special flight,” Jamal Zubia, the head of foreign media for the “government” in Tripoli, said this evening.

Following his release, Scaravilli appears to have been the victim of a diplomatic tug-of-war between the regime in Tripoli and the Italians with the former reported to be using him to try and obtain recognition from Rome. He was supposed to have left on 3 June but was then reportedly detained. Officially, he continued to remain in the Libyan capital while “investigations” were carried out.

During the time, Scaravilli says he was well treated.

He arrived in Rome this evening from Mitiga with the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Unit, Claudio Tafuri. [/restrict]