Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said in Geneva Tuesday 8 December that Libya should release two men detained there since July 2008, calling their detention “unfair” and an abuse of their rights.
Pillay, speaking ata news conference in Geneva, said, “I think the detention of the two Swiss businessmen appears to be a violation because they were detained in custody for a long time before the government of Libya announced that they were now subject to judicial proceedings for tax evasion. Their detention seems to be unfair and there has been no proper explanation for them. They appear to be victims of a state level dispute between Libya and Switzerland and should in my view be released as soon as possible. Individuals should not be made to suffer because of bad relations between states.”
The two men were detained shortly after Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva in 2008.
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News story, GenevaLunch, 9 December 2009.
Filed under: International organizations
Tags: businessmen, hostages, Libya, Navi Pillay, Switzerland, UN Commissioner for Human Rights