The identity of this hostage has not been revealed by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which indicates that it was informed of her death by Sophie Pétronin, the French hostage released Thursday.
A Swiss hostage held in Mali has died and "was reportedly killed" by her captors, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said in a statement on Friday.
"It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of our fellow citizen," said Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis, quoted in the press release, adding: "I condemn this cruel act and express my deepest condolences to the relatives of the victim".
Information provided by Sophie Pétronin
The ministry does not specify the identity of the hostage and indicates that it is the French authorities who informed the Swiss authorities "this Friday afternoon" that the hostage "would have been killed by the kidnappers of the Islamist terrorist organization Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslim (JNIM) about a month ago ".
The French authorities "were informed of this execution through the intermediary of the recently released French hostage," Sophie Pétronin, the ministry statement said.
Sophie Pétronin, the last French hostage in the world, arrived in France at midday on Friday after four years of detention in Mali in the hands of jihadists.
The Swiss authorities, "are doing everything possible to find out the exact circumstances" of the "execution" of their national "as well as the place where the body of the victim is" and "Switzerland will do everything possible to repatriate him" , continues the ministry affirming to want to approach the "new transitional government in Mali" to do this.