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29 March 2024

Ex-Scientologist to return home after kidnapping ordeal

Published
By Agencies

 


A French former Scientologist who was rescued in January after several weeks of captivity in Sardinia will return home next week, a police spokesman said Saturday.

Martine Boublil, who was found half naked on a mattress infested with insects and worms in a room full of rubbish on January 21, is still recovering in hospital from the ordeal but will return to France "sometime next week," the spokesman told AFP from the northern Sardinian town of Nuoro.

A French diplomat in Rome confirmed that the 48-year-old, whose brother Claude Boublil is a leading Scientologist in France, would go home "soon."

"The French consulate has followed this matter closely since the beginning in close collaboration with the Italian authorities, and Martine Boublil will soon be repatriated to France," the diplomat said.

Nuoro police were alerted to the kidnapping by a caller who reported hearing cries for help from a farmhouse outside Nuoro where Boublil was held.
 
Four French citizens, a woman and three men, who were arrested in connection with the alleged kidnapping and identified as Scientologists were released 10 days ago and have since returned to France, the Nuoro police spokesman said.  (AFP)