Libya is charging two Swiss businessmen detained in the country for over a year with tax evasion and failing to follow visa regulations.
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At a news conference on Thursday Libya’s foreign ministry announced that the two men, Rachid Hamdani and Max Göldi, would be charged and tried “by the end of the year”.
The men were first detained in Tripoli in July 2008, days after the arrest of the Libyan leader’s son Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife Aline on charges of mistreating their servants.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaïm said the case of the two Swiss had nothing to do with the arrest of Hannibal Gaddafi and said the pair had entered Libya on tourist visas, now expired, but had been involved in business dealings during their stay.
Libya also criticised “systematic solidarity” for Bern by European countries in imposing Schengen area visa restrictions on Libyans. A spokesman said Libya had protested to European ambassadors and threatened to respond in kind if the measure continued.
One of the first things the men are going to have to do is move out of the Swiss embassy. Libyan law requires defendants to have an address, and while the men are staying in the embassy, they are out of reach of Libyan justice.
Hamdani and Göldi were held for ten days in a Libyan jail and then released and allowed some freedom of movement. In September this year they were lured from the embassy in an action which the Swiss foreign ministry described as “kidnapping” and kept in a secret location for several weeks, before being returned to the embassy on Monday.
President Hans-Rudolf Merz flew to Tripoli in August and apologised for Hannibal’s arrest – triggering a storm of protest at home – but contrary to his expectations, the men were not allowed to return to Switzerland.
After months of quiet diplomacy, Switzerland recently changed tack and announced it was suspending the agreement Merz had signed during his visit and that Libyan citizens could face visa restrictions.
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Swiss hostages case swings in Libya’s favour
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Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World, says the return of two Swiss hostages to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli on Monday shows that Libya knows how to use the media. “Libya releases Swiss businessmen,” wrote the BBC. French newspapers Libération and Figaro also described the men…
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The Swiss citizens “are as well as can be expected under the circumstances”, the ministry said in a statement. The men were returned to the embassy without an explanation. It is unclear whether they will now be allowed to leave the country. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey welcomed their re-emergence, and said she had spoken by…
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Libya’s “systematic refusal” to cooperate with Switzerland in the case of two Swiss businessmen who have been prevented from leaving the country for more than a year prompted the decision, a government statement said. The government said that the two men had been “abducted in violation of international law”, and it is not known where…
Slim Hamdani is relieved his father has been returned to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli
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The son of one of the two Swiss businessmen held in Libya has expressed relief at the news that his father has been handed back to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli. Slim Hamdani, the son of hostage Rachid Hamdani, spoke with World Radio Switzerland’s Adam Beaumont.
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Without the backing of the other members of the Swiss cabinet, Merz apologised to Libya for the detention in Geneva last year of Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife. The apology unleashed condemnation of the move across Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.