Libyan kidnappers should face justice: minister

The Swiss president has called for those responsible for the “abduction” of two Swiss businessmen in Libya in 2009 to be called to account.

Micheline Calmy-Rey not only holds the country’s rotating presidency for 2011, but as foreign minister had to deal with the diplomatic crisis between the two countries sparked by the brief detention of the Libyan leader’s son in Geneva in 2008.

“I can imagine Switzerland starting a criminal investigation to examine the circumstances of the abduction of Max Göldi and Rachid Hamdani,” she told the German-language papers Sonntag and NZZ am Sonntag.

“There has been a fundamental change in the situation for us,” Calmy-Rey explained. “The two hostages are back home, the Swiss embassy in Tripoli is closed and can no longer be attacked, as happened before. Today we are free to act.”

Göldi and Hamdani were prevented from leaving Libya shortly after Hannibal Gaddafi’s arrest on charges of mistreating two of his domestic staff. The Libyan authorities accused them of violating visa regulations and other laws. The men moved to the Swiss embassy for their own safety; in September 2009 they were lured out by the Libyan authorities and held for two months in a secret location. The Swiss described this as a kidnapping.

Calmy-Rey said Switzerland had already taken a series of measures, including suspending the arbitration tribunal set up to examine Hannibal’s arrest, blocking assets of the Gaddafi family, and supporting the “brave people who are going into the streets for human rights and democracy”.