The appeal hearings of two Swiss businessmen sentenced earlier this month to 16 months in jail by a Libyan court have been put off to next year.
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The Swiss section of the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, quoted “reliable sources” as saying the proceedings due to take place in Tripoli on Tuesday were cancelled.
The delay will allow the defendants, Max Göldi and Rachid Hamdani, to seek access to their court files, according to Amnesty.
The Swiss foreign ministry said neither of the two defendants had left the embassy to appear in court.
Göldi and Hamdani, convicted of visa irregularities and tax evasion, have spent much of their time in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli ever since being prevented from leaving Libya in July 2008.
They also face further charges of doing business illegally in Libya in a separate trial scheduled for the beginning of next month.
The two businessmen were held shortly after Hannibal Gaddafi, one of the sons of the Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi, was detained by police in Geneva, along with his wife, on charges of mistreating two servants.
In another development, Hannibal has filed a civil complaint against a local Geneva newspaper that published a police photo from his arrest.
Geneva justice authorities said he was also seeking damages from the cantonal government for leaking the mug shot. A journalist is also being sued.
The court did not specify how much money Gaddafi wants.
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Second Libya trials postponed to January
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Max Göldi and Rachid Hamdani had been scheduled to be tried on Saturday and Sunday respectively on charges of conducting illegal economic activities. Their trials will take place on January 2 and January 3, spokesman Erik Reumann said. The two men have already been convicted of visa violations in a dispute stemming back to the…
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The two men did not attend the original trial, at which they were convicted of visa irregularities and tax evasion. Their lawyer, Salah Zahaf, told the AFP news agency on Monday that they would go to the court in person, and would return to the embassy afterwards. He did not say whether they had been…
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Rachid Hamdani and Max Göldi have been held in Libya since July 2008 after the arrest in Geneva of a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi on charges, later dropped, of mistreating two domestic employees The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed the sentences on Tuesday evening and said the men were tried in absentia and were…
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On September 1, 1969, a small group of military officers led by then 27-year-old army officer Moammar Gaddafi overthrew Libya’s King Idris’ government. The revolutionary officers abolished the monarchy, and proclaimed the new republic. Gaddafi is to this day, referred to as the “Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution” in government statements and the…
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