Charges against Tribune de Geneve journalist dismissed by judge
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The legal case opened Thursday 18 March between Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader, and canton Geneva plus the Tribune de Genève newspaper. The judge quickly dismissed charges against a journalist working for the Tribune who had approved but not selected the article and photograph, the newspaper reports. But swissinfo reports that Hannibal Qadaffi, who has asked for damages of CHF100,000, said Thursday evening he is no longer interested in the money: he wants an international tribunal to acquit him. Qadaffi was interviewed by news agency AFP.
Hillary Clinton, Geneva, March 2009
Update 16:12 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State and Sergey Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, have said after meeting in Moscow that the two countries are very close to an agreement on the Start talks. Clinton was in Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.
The announcement by the pair comes just after the publication of a lengthy interview of Clinton by New Times, a Russian magazine, where she says the US and Russia are “close” to an agreement on reducing their arsenals of nuclear weapons. “I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to complete this agreement soon.”
Clinton and Lavrov agreed in Geneva in March 2009 to seek a new Start treaty by the end of 2009, and while both sides said in December that good progress had been made, the year-end goal was not achieved. Few details of the talks have escaped the total news blackout which both sides have respected.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss and Belorussian governments Thursday signed a bilateral agreement covering vacations offered to children who have grown up in the region affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. There have been a small number of cases in other countries where teenagers have refused to return home.
US President Barack Obama at his inauguration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Democrats Abroad are launching a Get Out the Vote campaign worldwide to encourage Americans to register to vote early enough to participate in the November 2010 congressional elections. The group manages a web site, www.votefromabroad.org, where voters can order absentee ballots, and which offers them voter information.
Democrats Abroad is the official overseas branch of the US Democratic Party and has members in more than 160 countries. It is keen to get Americans abroad voting in the hope of holding onto a strong Democratic majority. There are 435 House elections and 36 Senate elections in November.
”Just over a year ago, we saw history being made before our eyes,” says Christine Schon Marques, the Geneva-based president of Democrats Abroad.
Libya calls on Malta to leave the Schengen area, “another form of colonialism”
Malta issues temporary visas to Libyans to avoid Swiss ban
Update 2 13:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss-German media SF has obtained a copy of court papers filed 16 March by canton Geneva showing it agrees to compensate Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of Libya’s leader, and to offer an apology for a leak from the police department. The canton has not officially confirmed or denied the report, in line with its notice in February 2010 that it would not issue any statements until Max Goeldi, a Swiss businessman serving a four-month prison term in Libya, is free. (Ed. note: the canton is holding a press conference at 16:00 as a result of the SF revelation)
The leak to which the court papers refer allowed “unflattering” photos of the man to be published in the Tribune de Genève newspaper after he was arrested in the city in July 2008. The papers filed by the canton, seen by Swiss news agency ATS, note that since it is clear the leak came from a state employee, the cantonmust take some responsibility. It asks the court to determine the share of responsibility and costs to be borne by the Tribune. It also insists that the Tribune must publish the court decision, at its own cost.
Libya has demanded that the European Union also apologize, for not issuing visas to some of its citizens, Spanish newspaper El Pais reports Libyan ambassador to Spain, Ageli Abdussalam Breni, as saying.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Amnesty International’s Swiss branch, which has maintained contact with Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, sentenced to four months in prison in Libya for visa irregularities, is in poor condition, the group told news agency ATS Monday 15 March. His lawyer made a similar statement Sunday. Goeldi initially saw his prison detention as a temporary state while request for clemency was pending, says Amnesty, but Libya’s judicial system has not yet reviewed his case.
Goeldi’s mental state has deteriorated rapidly since he left the Swiss embassy in February, where he had been living for more than 18 months while awaiting sentencing.
Amnesty International a week ago handed Libya 14,000 signatures asking for the country to release the prisoner.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday was facing the results of weekend regional elections in France, which show a serious erosion of his support from the right. Paris newspaper Le Monde points out that while the elections have no immediate impact on his role or his government, they show that the right has reservations about the president’s actions, his personality and his ability to pull together a majority for 2012 election.
Sarkozy and his celebrity wife, Carla Bruni, were in the news in the election run-up, with tabloids running stories daily about a gossip-based marital affairs rumour. Despite, or perhaps because of the gossip, the turnout for the vote was considerably lower than usual, less than half of voters.
Update 17 March Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Libya is offering a public relations lesson in how to stay in the news, with measures unveiled almost daily for the past two weeks, to increase pressure on Switzerland to resolve the two countries’ diplomatic feud. By Friday 12 March Google alone was carrying 49.5 million entries with “Libya, Switzerland”.
Update: Tuesday 16 March Libyan Ambassador to Spain Ageli Abdussalam Breni demanded that the European Union apologize for not approving visas to Libyans on the Swiss black list.
The latest came Thursday 11 March when the Libyan ambassador to the UN in Geneva again called for Switzerland to end its ban on a number of its leaders entering the Schengen area. The previous day Libya’s ambassador to the UN in New York made a similar speech. Both events have received enormous international media coverage with headlines about rising tensions, although neither of the men’s calls contained anything new.
Libyan ambassadors have also called in the press in other European countries to argue Libya’s stance. And shortly before that Libya threatened the US if an official did not apologize for a remark taken as offensive (he did).
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has added its voice to a growing number of nations asking Israel to end its plans to build 1,600 new homes in the Occupied West Bank. The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in a statement Thursday morning 11 March called the decision a clear violation of international law.
”The FDFA is following with concern the events taking place in East Jerusalem, and deplores the go-ahead given by the Government of Israel to the building of 1,600 new dwellings in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It asks the Government of Israel not to proceed with the building project. East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
”Switzerland considers the building of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to be a violation of international humanitarian law, which forbids an occupying power to transfer any part of its civilian population to an occupied territory. The Israeli settlements are a clear violation of international law.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Ri Tcheul (also spelled Chol) 75-year-old North Korean diplomat who has been ambassador to the United Nations and international organizations since 1987 and ambassador to Switzerland as well since 1998, is rumoured to be leaving Geneva soon. The North Korean mission has not confirmed or denied the information. AP news agency reports that the South Korean government cannot confirm the information.
Media reports from South Korea say that Ri, who is widely believed to have managed funds for longtime leader Kim Jong-il, is leaving for unknown reasons, but given his long tenure in Geneva they are probably not political. He arrived in Geneva in 1980 as foreign minister for the North Korean mission.
Lyons, France / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Dubai police have added 16 more international arrest warrants to the 11 already issued, linked to the 20 January death of Hamas military leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. Interpol has added the new warrants to its existing Red Notices for the case. Interpol, based in Lyons, insists on the likely use of identity theft by the murderers. “Since Intepol has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people, the Red Notices specify that the names used were aliases used to commit murder,” its web site notes. “Interpol has officially made public the photos and the names fraudulently used on the passports in order to limit the ability of accused murderers from traveling freely using the same false passports.”
The international criminal police organization says it contacted the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in January to alert it to the increased risk of terrorists traveling on documents using stolen identities, which makes it easier for them to avoid detection.
Some members of the great white shark's family are on the Cites list under review for protection
Bern / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has agreed to back demands for a ban on bluefin tuna, a favourite of sushi diners, when Geneva-based Cites meets in Doha, Qatar, 13-25 March. Cites is the inter-government Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and 175 governments will be sending representatives to the triennial meeting.
Cantonal votes: Genevans could see rents go up
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Retirement benefits should not be cut, research on human beings should be coordinated at the federal level and the Swiss Confederation does not need a lawyer to represent animals’ rights: these were the three decisions by Swiss voters Sunday 7 March. The Swiss went to the polls in the first of four federal voting sessions in 2010. The strong popular vote against cutting pensions offered a good reminder to the government and parliament of how direct democracy continues to give the people a say in legislative changes.
Swiss chocolate, to help celebrate Canadian gold at the Olympics
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canadians may have loved their Olympic Games primarily for the sports, but the Winter Games 2010 also brought other great things to town. These included four tons of Swiss cheese and two tons of Swiss chocolate, consumed at the two Swiss Houses that were opened for the event.
Presence Switzerland says 60,000 guests visited the two locations between the opening ceremony 5 February and the closing ceremony 28 February. Some 1,700 fans registered on the Facebook account.
The two locations where a hub for the Swiss Olympic team, sponsors and partners and were also a meeting point for fans.
Swiss Emmental cheese
The Swiss House project was sponsored by Presence Swiss, which promotes Switzerland abroad. The project was subsidized by the federal government to the tune of CHF1.5 million.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains silent on Libya, while Libya appears to want to stay in news headlines this week: leader Muammar Qadaffi’s declaration of a jihad or holy war against Switzerland last week was firmly rebuffed as unacceptably by the United Nations and Swiss Muslim leaders. Reports are coming in that some Libyans have taken it more seriously, and that anywhere from 1,000 t0 2,000 of them, depending on who is reporting, have gathered outside the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli. Security forces are guarding the building.
Meanwhile, Hannibal Qadaffi has visited Max Goeldi in prison in Libya, in the presence of reporters.
EU Council agrees to border measures, including some concerning Libya
Update 23:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It took him nearly four months and several bouts of political wrangling with Switzerland, but Muammar Qadaffi, Libya’s leader, Thursday 25 February called for a holy war, or Jihad against Switzerland. The reason: the European nation’s vote in early November 2009 against the construction of new minarets [Ed. note: the vote did not ban minarets, so the existing ones will stay]. Qaddafi was addressing a large crowd from several Muslim countries, before prayers in a Benghazi square.
The Swiss government refused to comment on the Libyan leader’s call to Muslims around the world when asked by Swiss public broadcasting to do so, but Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told a Thursday meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union and Schengen Area in Brussels that Switzerland is justified in placing Qadaffi on a black list of people who are not allowed to enter the Schengen Area by way of Switzerland.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government says it is instructing the Federal Finance Department to come up with solutions to “prevent new, undeclared funds from coming to Switzerland.” The governing Federal Council stated after a special session Wednesday 24 February that focused on the Switzerland’s role as a financial centre that it is “against attracting undeclared funds from overseas” and that it will continue to work on the “regularization” of existing funds that have not been declared to their home governments.
The statements are the strongest sign yet that Switzerland intends to curb banking activity that involves undeclared money, but the council emphasized that any solutions must “at the same time ensur[e] that privacy is safeguarded.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland could soon have a law that would help avoid fiascos like the Duvalier funds legal case, where the Swiss have spent 23 years unsuccessfully trying to return to the people of Haiti money that was pocketed by the Duvalier family dictators. Switzerland has, in the past 15 years, returned more than CHF1.7 billion in such stolen dictators’ funds to other countries – the only country to do so.
If Parliament passes the law soon after the consultation period ends, it could be used to return some CHF6 million to Haiti. The assets have been frozen since 1986.
The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 24 February opened for consultation a proposed law on “the restitution of illicit assets”, to ensure that Switzerland’s hands are not tied if a state is unable to conduct national criminal procedures against its own former leaders. The consultation, open to cantons, political, legal and business groups who have an interest in the change of law, closes 16 April 2010.
Problems in the cases of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and former leader Mobutu as well as Haiti and the Duvalier assets, prompted the government to decide in early 2009 that Swiss law would need to change, a process that has taken nearly a year.
Rachid Hamdani, Max Goeldi, Swiss detained in Libya
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Rachid Hamdani, one of two businessmen held in Libya, has given his first post-freedom interview, 11 minutes long, with TSR (Fre). “Almost like a dream,” he tells Darius Rochebin, TSR presenter, of what it feels like to be heading home. The thing in Switzerland that he is most looking forward to is seeing his family, he was quick to say.
Hamdani, speaking from Tunisia by telephone, says that as someone who has never been in court before, being arrested and taken to prison were among “the most difficult moments of my life.”
Rashid Hamdani, left and Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains officially silent but news reports from journalists in Tripoli, including a Reuters reporter, say that Swiss businessman Max Goeldi has surrendered to Libya authorities, to begin a four-month prison sentence. The Swiss will ask for clemency, and if it is granted, Human Rights Watch says, this would be a sign that the political crisis is over between Switzerland and Libya.
Libyan security forces surrounded the Swiss embassy in Tripoli after giving Switzerland a deadline to hand over Goeldi, who has been staying at the embassy. The second Swiss businessman held by Libya but whose charges were recently dropped, Rashid Hamdani from the Lake Geneva region, appears to have been allowed to leave the embassy and is reported to have traveled to Tunisia by car.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, Le Temps (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Update 21:15 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi has surrendered to Libyan authorities and will begin serving his four-month prison sentence for visa violations. His countryman Rachid Hamdani has been given his exit visa Monday late afternoon 22 February, but has not left Tripoli, he told his wife Bruna by phone from Tripoli.
Goeldi had been ordered to appear in court before noon Tripoli time (11:00 in Switzerland) or face unstipulated consequences, it was announced Monday 22 February. It had been understood that Goeldi could stay at the Swiss embassy until the appeals process had been exhausted.
Goeldi is one of two Swiss businessmen held in Tripoli since July 2008 against their will by the Libyan refusal to issue exit visas for them.
Links to other sites: Le Temps, Romandie News, TSR
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The foreign ministers of Switzerland, Spain and Libya met Thursday 18 February in Madrid to discuss the impasse over the return of two Swiss citizens from Libya and the issue of visas not being issued to some Libyans. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister, said after the meeting that “We have been working well” and the talks are continuing.
She is meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa. Spain is hosting the talks as the president of the European Union for 2010. Calmy-Rey also noted that she has had discussions in the past few days with several EU foreign ministers.
Update 13:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government announced Wednesday 17 February that it will continue the policy begun in November 2009 of restricting visas for Libyans. Italy, France and Malta were calling Tuesday for Switzerland to change its policy, given Libya’s announcement Monday that it would not allow citizens of Schengen countries to cross its border, citing a black list of nearly 200 Libyan officials who have been refused visas.
Swissinfo reports that “Jacques de Watteville, Swiss ambassador to the EU, says Switzerland had rejected just 270 applications for Schengen visas out of 30,000, less than one per cent.” The Swiss government has not confirmed there is a black list.
Swiss officials say they have been in contact with European Union authorities since the start of the restrictions, contrary to remarks made earlier this week by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner when interviewed by TSR, Swiss public television.
German newspaper Deutsche Welle says that Sawsan Chebli, an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, told the paper, “The EU is Libya’s greatest trade and export partner. This is a leverage the EU could use. However, Italy and other EU member states with close relations with Libya in the past have shown that they are not interested to spoil their relations with Libya whatever Gadhafi’s action may be.
TVA revenues fell sharply, sign of weaker economy in 2009, but withholding tax revenue up
Bern, seat of the Swiss federal government
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gloom and doom scenarios for 2009 turned out to be less serious than expected for the Swiss federal government: the year closed with an operating surplus of CHF2.7 billion. An additional CHF7.2b in sales of UBS convertible bonds provided the government with enough money to reduce the federal debt by CHF11 billion. It now stands at CHF111b, some CHF20b less than at its peak in 2005.
Switzerland’s federal government accounts for only about half the national debt, spokesperson and newly named finance director Fritz Zurbruegg told GenevaLunch: the federal debt is now 20 percent of GDP while the general figure, which includes cantonal and communal governments, is 40 percent.
”But that’s still much lower than the 100 percent which is the norm for the G20 countries,” he notes, where the national debt is, on average, now 100 percent of GDP and “rapidly climbing – although that’s partly because Japan is at about 200 percent,” says Zurbruegg.
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - The European Commission reacted to Libya’s ban on visas for Schengen residents by saying it will meet later in the week to discuss the abrupt decision by Muammar Qadaffi’s government. Cecilia Malmstroem of Sweden, the commissioner for home affairs, provided a more immediate response: “The European Commission deplores the unilateral and disproportionate decision by Libyan authorities to suspend the delivery of visas to EU Schengen countries’ citizens. The commission also regrets that travelers who legally obtained visas before the suspension measure were refused entry when arriving in Libya.”
It is unclear if the move includes diplomats, but there are reports that people arriving in Tripoli with visas are being refused entry at the airport.
The visa ban appears to be in retaliation for an unconfirmed ban on travel to Switzerland, a member of the Schengen area, by close to 200 Libyans. Switzerland has not issued any information along these lines and the Swiss government has refused to confirm the information, which was reported by a Libyan newspaper generally considered close to one of Qadaffi’s sons.
