Belgian pilot in child kidnap case leaves Chad

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

NDJAMENA (AFP) — An elderly Belgian pilot arrested over a charity's attempt to fly 103 children out of Chad returned home Saturday, leaving six Europeans and four Chadians still in jail over the operation.

Jacques Wilmart, 75, left the capital Ndjamena on a Belgian military plane with medical facilities a day after he was freed along with three Spanish colleagues. Wilmart had been hospitalised late Thursday for heart problems.

He arrived back in Belgium on Saturday evening.

Before leaving the Chadian capital, Wilmart said he did not regret the operation by the French charity Zoe's Ark that led to the arrests of 17 Europeans and four Chadians on charges including attempted child abduction.

"I followed my conscience," Wilmart told France 2 television....