Events mark 500 days of captivity

EVENTS are being held around France to mark the 500 days that reporters Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier have been held hostage in Afghanistan.

The two journalists, who were filming a Pièces à Conviction segment for France 3 were kidnapped on December 29, 2009 at Kapisa, 60km from Kabul, along with three Afghan colleagues.

"It's the longest kidnapping of journalists since Lebanon in the 1980s," said the spokesman for the hostages' support group, Richard Coffin.

Several claims have been made by the French government that negotiations were on the brink of securing the release of the hostages.

The latest came from Defence Minister Alain Juppé who announced on May 4 that the pair were nearly freed at the beginning of year but the deal collapsed.