Cyprus praises Iraq kidnap victim

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Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou praised a fellow national Monday for “heroically” surviving his captors in Iraq for 130 days.

Garabed Jikerdjian, 40, an Armenian who holds both Cypriot and Lebanese nationality, was released on New Year’s Eve after being held by an unknown group in Baghdad, who initially demanded a US$ 25,000 ransom and later raised the stake to half a million dollars.

Jikerdjian praised the Cyprus and the Lebanese governments that cooperated with the Iraqi authorities to secure his release.

“I thank all those who helped, I thank them very much,” he said accompanied by relatives at an emotional ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia.

Gunmen kidnapped him in August and tortured him as seen on a video for being employed by an Iraqi-Lebanese company that supplied alcohol and other goods to the Iraqi government and the U.S. troops stationed there.