Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss president

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has no regrets about his actions in the on-going disputes the country has with Libya, he says in a lengthy interview with 20Minuten, the German edition of the daily free newspaper. “I would do everything exactly the same way again.” Switzerland has been trying to obtain the release of two Swiss businessmen held in Tripoli, Libya since July 2008, after the son of Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi was arrested in Geneva days earlier.

Merz says he is sure the agreement he signed and the apology he gave to Libya 20 August should have freed the two men. The Swiss government announced at the time that the two would be back in Switzerland by the end of August, and sent an airplane to Tripoli to fly them home.

Merz met Qaddafi in New York at the UN General Assembly in September. The Swiss president says he asked the Libyan leader what could be done to bring about the release of the two Swiss in Tripoli. Days before, a Geneva newspaper published photos of the arrest of the younger Qaddafi. The elder Qaddafi could not believe this new humiliation of his family, Merz relates.

Merz criticizes the Geneva police for precipitating the crisis. He says he told Qaddafi that the entry of 20 armed policemen into the Geneva hotel bedroom to arrest Hannibal Qaddafi and his pregnant wife was “unnecessary and unjustified.” He says he explained to Qaddafi that the Swiss government was not happy with the Geneva police action, either.

He points out that Switzerland is a state governed by laws. “In Libya Qaddafi is the state, and the state is Qaddafi. When you offend one, you offend the other”, Merz says.

Links to other sites: 20Minuten (Ger), Tagesanzeiger (Ger)

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