Last French hostage arrives home after 3 years

France's last remaining hostage, Serge Lazarevic, arrived home Wednesday after three years at the hands of Islamist militants, to be greeted by his family and French President Francois Hollande.
      
The beaming 51-year-old, dressed casually in a blue hooded top, was welcomed warmly by Hollande at a military airport outside Paris before an emotional embrace with his mother and sister.
      
Lazarevic, sporting a closely-cropped beard, shared a joke with Hollande and the rest of his family after exiting the jet with his daughter.
      
"I had forgotten what it is like to be free. I will never forget it again," Lazarevic told reporters.
      
"Be careful, because freedom is dearer than anything. When you've been taken, when you're being abused, when you're lost, when you're close to death, you think more about life," he added.
     
Hollande said it was "an enormous joy" to see him back on French soil.
     
"Welcome back, Mr Lazarevic, we've been waiting for you for three years," said the president.
      
Lazarevic was expected to be taken immediately to a military hospital for check-ups before returning to the comfort of his family, according to a diplomatic source.
      
"The doctor gave him a check-up on the plane and he's doing well," this source said.
      
Lazarevic was the last of more than a dozen French citizens taken captive in recent years, with those held in Africa reaching a high of 15 last year. Four journalists held by Syrian jihadists were released earlier this year.
      
He was freed after intensive efforts by Niger and Mali.
      
There was no immediate information on how the release was secured or whether France paid a ransom.