Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The family of Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, serving a four-month prison sentence in Libya, has appealed to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi to release the man. The demand for clemency follows a visit in prison to Goeldi by Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the leader. The visit has given the family some hope that Goeldi will be released sooner, Moritz Goeldi, brother of Max, said Tuesday 2 March on Swiss German public television.
His mother, who celebrated her 80th birthday Monday 1 March, is having a hard time understanding why her son is unable to come home, says Moritz, who noted that Max’s detention in Libya for more than 18 months has been very hard on their mother.
Background, GenevaLunch
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s woes with Libya continue this week, with Tripoli postponing the trials of two Swiss businessmen. The two are to stand trial for visa and tax irregularities, Libya has said. They were arrested shortly after the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the country’s leader. Libya in early January issued a list of reasons why the son should not have been arrested; it continues to argue, as it did in 2008, that he should have received diplomatic immunity.
The son is reported 6 January by Swiss media to have hosted singer Beyoncé for New Year’s Eve festivities at the Nikki Beach Club in Saint-Barthélemy, the Antilles, a week after he avoided police charges in Britain.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has suspended its 20 August 2009 agreement with Libya designed to improve relations and is restricting visas issued to Libyans. The Federal Council (cabinet) noted in a press release Wednesday 4 November that Tripoli has refused all collaboration and that “the two Swiss citizens, who were taken in violation of international law, are still being held in an unknown area. The Libyan authorities refuse to allow anyone to visit them.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The “Falcon”, a Swiss military plane used by the Federal Council, flew back from Tripoli, Libya, to Switzerland during the night of 27-28 August, carrying the delegation from the president’s office who flew there to seek the return of two businessmen held hostage for over a year. The two men did not return with them. Bern issued a brief statement saying that the plane is needed for other purposes but that “the preparations for their return are continuing.”
The men have been held since July 2008 as part of the fallout from an incident involving the arrest of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader, and his wife at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva for abusing their staff.
One way to salvation
Update 10:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz signed an agreement yesterday 20 August in a surprise visit to Tripoli, Libya during which Switzerland apologized for the “unjustified and unnecessary” detention of Hannibal, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi. This puts an end to the ongoing dispute between the two countries that was detonated by the arrest of Hannibal and his wife in a Geneva hotel room in July 2008, where they were allegedly mistreating their servants.
The agreement allows two Swiss businessmen, who had been denied exit permits, to leave Libya, and all consular and commercial ties between the two countries will resume, including commercial air links.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Mouammar Qadaffi, Libya’s leader, is out to “take apart” Switzerland, Swiss public radio and television are reporting today. The result will be to make it far more difficult for a meeting between the leaders of the two countries to take place. Two Swiss men have been detained by Libya for a year, following an incident where Qadaffi’s son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva, 15 July 2008.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Libya withdrew more than CHF5 billion in assets held in Swiss bank accounts in 2008, wire service ATS reports, in a story carried by several Swiss papers. The sharp scaledown in holdings plus the fact that the new Swiss charge d’affaires has not been able allowed to present his credentials in Tripoli could mean that Libya is carrying out threats it made in July 2008 after Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of the country’s leader, was arrested in Geneva. In October 2008 the Libyan wire service published a report saying that Libya was removing the cash it had in Swiss accounts, which it estimated to be CHF7 billion.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A possible thaw in frosty relations between Bern and Tripoli may be in the offing, several observers have been telling Swiss media. Tensions rose between Switzerland and Libya in 2008 when the son of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader, was arrested in Geneva along with his wife for abusing a member of their staff while they were staying at the Hotel President Wilson.
Geneva sociologist and politician Jean Ziegler, who has had close contact for several years with Qadaffi, told the Tribune de Genève 3 June that there are indications an arbitration committee might be reactivated. Read more…
Geneva, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Swiss public television station TSR reports that according to its sources Libya’s Qadaffi family has filed several charges against the state of Geneva, linked to the arrest last July in the city of Hannibal Qadaffi and his wife over an incident that involved one of their staff. Relations have been cold since then between Switzerland and Libya but a spokesperson for Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey says that the legal action is a good thing because it moves the dispute out of the diplomatic sphere and into a judicial one.
