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Briton's Georgia kidnap hell ends
TBILISI, Georgia -- British banker Peter Shaw has described his escape from kidnappers during a gun battle as "a miracle," bringing to an end five months of captivity in Georgia. Shaw ran for freedom during a shoot out as he was being moved from one hideout to another. The 57-year-old EU banker from south Wales said after his release: "I think it's a miracle (I escaped)... I thought the entire world had forgotten me. I had no information for five months." He added he was still recovering "from the experience of having been taken away from life." On his return to the UK on Thursday Shaw said: "You somehow have to stay alive and survive from day to day and try and pray. It's not something that I've got a habit of doing in my 57 years. But I certainly did for the past five months." Shaw, who was uninjured during the shooting, said he had been "very frightened" during the gun battle. Georgian security forces said Shaw was freed during a targeted raid, but other reports say the fighting was between his four captors, Reuters reports. Details of his release are unclear, but Shaw said he ran for some bushes when shooting broke out. One of his captors was killed. "They masked me," Shaw said. "The car was driven for about 10 minutes. I was taken out of the car, four guys walked me up the mountain. Two guys held me by the arms and two guys were behind me. "I thought they were going to kill me. I heard the one behind me take the gun from his shoulder... So I thought 'This is for me.' "So I thought 'Well I'm not going to stand here... so I jumped into the gorse bushes at the side of the lane and the next thing, they fired guns." He added: "I spent some time in the bushes, then I walked to some traffic lights I saw with my arms up. I came to Georgian soldiers. They were shouting something in Georgian. I was shouting back: 'British, British Peter Shaw, I am Peter Shaw.'" He was being held with another kidnapped businessman, who was reportedly shot by his captors during the rescue bid, the UK's Press Association said. The financial expert was kidnapped outside his home in Tbilisi in June on the day he was due to finish his six-year stint as executive director at the EU-sponsored Agro-Businessbank. He described how he was constantly beaten during his 141-day captivity "in a hole in the ground" and deprived of any light, except half a candle per day, in the dark cellar. "They beat me. I have a crack on my skull. I was chained by the neck, I could not move," he was quoted by Reuters as saying. "It's hard for me to walk even now... It was very, very nasty." The cell measured 1.5 metres by 2.5 metres. He had no contact apart from two hands coming through the wall and giving me food and water." Georgia: Haven for kidnappersGeorgia has suffered from a string of kidnappings, blamed on Chechen rebels, since it received independence from the former Soviet Union in 1999. Shaw's kidnapping soured relations between Georgia and the EU, which temporarily cut more than $40 million in aid. The EU also issued a warning to Georgia to protect foreigners better. Shaw had worked as a consultant under a European Union development programme. Shaw's kidnapping came less than six months after German Gunther Beuchel, a member of the EU delegation in Tblisi, was killed. No one has been convicted for his death. He said kidnappers tried to force him to write a note to his family asking for a million dollars, The Associated Press reported. Moscow had repeatedly poured scorn on Tbilisi's efforts to fight groups flourishing in the remote gorge on Russia's border, Reuters says. Two Spanish businessmen were released last December after 372 days in captivity in the area. The pair were abducted while driving to Tbilisi airport and held for an undisclosed ransom. A brother of AC Milan soccer player Kakha Kaladze was kidnapped last May. His captors have demanded a $600,000 ransom. The U.S. earlier this year sent military trainers to Georgia to help the country's underfunded army learn how to conduct anti-terrorist operations. Shaw's family were with him as he left Georgia, after spending the night at the British Embassy. His daughter Lisa, 31, said her father's release was "the end of a nightmare." "We were not sure if he was dead or alive and have been dreading the phone ringing," she told the British broadsheet newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. "It is the news we were hoping and praying for. We just can't wait to see him."
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