The Venezuelan TV network Telesur broadcast Monday the first video images of a French journalist captured a month ago by Colombian rebels, who say they plan to release him on Wednesday.

The video, taken by the rebels, shows Romeo Langlois, 35, seated and covered with a white towel, having his left forearm sutured for a bullet wound and looking relaxed but pallid as he answers questions from a female guerrilla.

The rebels said they recorded the video about two hours after Langlois surrendered on April 28, according to independent journalist Karl Penhaul, who obtained the footage from them. Langlois had been accompanying Colombian troops on a cocaine lab destruction mission in the jungles of southern Colombia when the guerrillas attacked them.

In a separate interview on May 23, a commander of the rebel front that captured Langlois told Penhaul that a bullet had entered Langlois' arm above the elbow and exited the forearm. The commander, Colacho Mendoza, said neither bone nor tendon suffered damage and that Langlois was given antibiotics and pain killers.