Government ministers have filed a legal complaint against an unknown person or persons for leaking classified information during a diplomatic crisis with Libya.
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Swiss government spokesman André Simonazzi said the cabinet took the step one day after a parliamentary commission decided it was no longer possible to find out who had told the media about secret military plans to extract two Swiss hostages held in Libya. The mission was never carried out.
The cabinet strongly condemned the leaks back in June. Details about the mission had been classified as secret and so leaking them was a criminal offence, Swiss President Doris Leuthard said.
The missions centred on freeing Swiss nationals Max Göldi and Rachid Hamdani, who were arrested in Tripoli in July 2008, days after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, and his wife, on charges of abusing their staff.
In the row that ensued, Tripoli suspended visas for Swiss citizens, withdrew funds from Swiss banks, stopped oil shipments, reduced flights to Switzerland and detained Hamdani and Göldi on immigration charges that many observers believed to be false.
Hamdani was released in February, but Göldi had to serve a four-month prison sentence, only returning to Switzerland in early summer.
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Looking back at the Switzerland-Libya dispute
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As the Swiss federal parliament prepares to release its official report on how the crisis was handled, swissinfo.ch takes a look at the history of the strained relationship between the two nations. The trouble began in mid-July 2008 when Hannibal Gaddafi – a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi – was arrested and charged with…
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The flow of information between the different ministries was insufficient and individual ministers exceeded their authority, according to a report by a 13-member Senate committee in charge of overseeing the activities of the government and the federal administration. “The parliamentary control committee believes that cabinet ministers must not only abide by the laws of the…
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Daniel Möckli, who has recently published an analysis of the case, tells swissinfo.ch that the European Union’s intervention was also key. It has been just over a month since the second Libyan hostage Max Göldi returned to Switzerland, but the Libya affair is hardly over. An international tribunal will judge the temporary arrest in Geneva…
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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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