Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Monday 20 September is a holiday in much of Switzerland, the Jeûne Fédéral. GenevaLunch, based in Vaud, will be providing limited news coverage. Swiss weekend news highlights include:
SOCIETY – Four people are dead and 17 injured after a woman went on a shooting spree in Loerrach, Germany, near Basel, in a family dispute, setting off an explosion that provoked a fire. Media reports are contradictory, but it appears that the woman shot her former companion, their child and shot at others in a nearby hospital before she was shot dead by police in a shootout (Reuters).
SPORTS – Skier Didier Defago, on crutches Sunday 19 September after surgery for torn knee ligaments Friday, told journalists he has no intention of quitting. The 32-year-old Olympic downhill champion crashed last Wednesday during training in Zermatt, when the tips of his skis touched as he was going 110 kph.
PEOPLE – Russian billionnaire’s Geneva divorce battle now includes one of Florida’s most colourful pieces of property, reports Forbes magazine. Dmitri Rybolovlev, number 79 on Forbes’s list of the world’s wealthiest people, was sued for divorce in Geneva by his wife Elena in 2008. She has now asked the Swiss court to enforce a March court order, according to Forbes, to freeze an 18-bedroom, $48 million (assessed price) home she claims her fertilizer businessman husband is trying to hide behind business structures. The house was sold, reportedly to the couple, by Donald Trump who bought it from another magnate, Abe Gossman, who later went bankrupt.
POLITICS – Switzerland’s efforts to free two Swiss businessmen, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, have been shrouded in secrecy, but 19 September NZZ newspaper in Zurich reported that a Swiss soldier made a reconnaissance mission to Libya at one point. The newspaper bases its report on a confidential government memo it obtained. The two men were were imprisoned for 1.5 and 2 years respectively by Libya, with Hamdani freed in February 2010 and Goeldi in June 2010. The soldier reportedly traveled as a civilian, with a valid visa.
GENEVA RENTS – Geneva is regularly cited as one of the most expensive cities, with high rent playing a key role, but too much is too much, the president of the finance commission told the Tribune de Geneve, which reports that the justice department is paying CHF196,000 a month rent for a 2,226m2 building on the rue de l’Athenée in central Geneva. It houses, among others, the tribunal for rents and leases.
POLITICS – The US Justice Department announced Friday 17 September that one of the seven people charged with using UBS accounts for tax fraud had been sentenced to the longest prison term yet for such an offense. It also noted that he has been fined $4.4 million for not filing his FBAR forms, “an amount equal to 50 percent of the highest value of his UBS accounts as of December 31 for the years in which he failed to file FBAR.” The lengthy Justice Department news release notes: “Federico Hernandez, a Manhattan-based financial adviser, was sentenced today to 12 months’ imprisonment for hiding $8.8 million from the IRS by using sham companies to conceal his ownership of secret Swiss bank accounts held at UBS AG. Hernandez was one of seven US taxpayers charged on April 15, 2010, with filing false tax returns and related crimes for hiding Swiss bank accounts from the IRS. Hernandez pled guilty that same day to filing five false tax returns. In addition to the sentence of imprisonment, US District Judge Denny Chin imposed a sentence of six months’ home confinement. Hernandez also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $4.4 million. The sentence imposed on Hernandez is the longest term of imprisonment to date for hiding a UBS bank account from the IRS.
Details linked to Swiss-Libyan agreement surfacing
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Foreign Affairs Department has confirmed to Swiss public radio and television media reports that it has put CHF1.5 million into a bank account in Germany for Libya. The money will be paid to Libya in the case a judicial investigation in Geneva does not produce the name of the person(s) who illegally handed a police photo of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader, to the Tribune de Geneve, which published it.
The amount was determined by the two governments together, based on the money spent on legal fees by Qadaffi, who pressed charges. Hannibal Qadaffi in April won the court case in Geneva for defamation.
A citizens' movement would like to make Hannibal Qadaffi persona non grata in the city
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The thief or thieves of a police mug shot of Hannibal Qadaffi, remain unidentified, despite an investigation in Geneva that has lasted nearly a year. Pierre Ruetschi, editor-in-chief of the Tribune de Geneve newspaper, continues to defend his publication’s use of a photo of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader, taken while he was in police custody in July 2008.
The photo has been at the centre of the diplomatic tussle between Libya and Switzerland that resulted in Swiss businessman Max Goeldi being imprisoned in Libya for nearly two years. As part of an agreement to get Goeldi’s release, Switzerland said it would ensure that judicial hearings would try to find those guilty for stealing the photo, and that they would be brought to justice. The magistrate in charge of the case, Alix Francotte Conus, told Le Temps newspaper and TSR television this week that the investigation is nearly completed, with the computer searches finished and most of the interviews done, although she has yet to interview Ruetschi.
If Conus’s investigations turn up nothing she will hand over the case to public prosecutor Daniel Zappelli, who will either close the case or ask her to undertake additional investigative work, according to TSR. The public television station also notes that a motion filed in August 2009 will finally make it onto the Grand Conseil (city council) calendar Friday evening 19 June, a motion by the Mouvement citoyens genevois to declare Hannibal Qadaffi persona non grata in the city.
Update 19:00 [Video] Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Max Goeldi, the Swiss businessman held by Libya for nearly two years on what eventually became charges for visa irregularities, flew home to Switzerland via Tunis late Sunday night, arriving at Zurich Airport at 01:20 for an emotional reunion with his family (TSR, Fre). Monday he gave a press conference, saying he was tired, but very happy, and that he remains unaware of any wrongdoing on his part that led to his detention.
His release signaled the end to a diplomatic standoff between Switzerland and Libya. Foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who flew back with him, publicly thanked Germany and Spain (Ger) for their help in ending the affair.
Their foreign ministers accompanied her for meetings with Libya’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, and his leader, Muammar Qadaffi.
Background, 13 June, GenevaLunch
Video SF: Goeldi arrives in Switzerland
Update 3 / 14 June Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, freed from prison in Libya 10 June, is en route home to Switzerland, news agency AFP reports his lawyer as saying Sunday night, possibly via Tunis.
Switzerland and Libya signed a “plan of action” Sunday in Tripoli, with Germany and Spain also signatories, to end the diplomatic impasse between the Swiss and Libyan governments. Max Goeldi, Swiss businessman and ABB employee who has been held in Libya for nearly two years, is scheduled to fly home from Tripoli, via Madrid, Sunday. Goeldi’s prison sentence in Libya for visa irregularities has been at the centre of the diplomatic tussle that began with the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa. She also met with Libya’s leader Muammar Qadaffi in his reception tent, along with Spanish leader Miguel Angel Moratinos and Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as well as other European leaders.
The plan of action includes the following:
- a tribunal will be created to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi in July 2008, to which then-Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz agreed in principle in August 2009;
- Switzerland will offer Libya an official apology for the theft of a police mug shot of Hannibal Qadaffi from police files, and for their publication in the Tribune de Geneve newspaper, and those who stole the material will be prosecuted (it was revealed that a criminal case has already been opened);
- Max Goeldi’s request for a judicial pardon from Libya will be expedited.
TSR, Swiss public television, reports that Tripoli says Geneva has already paid CHF1.5 million euros to Hannibal Qadaffi, a sum that has not been verified and that runs counter to statements made earlier by Bern.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa.
Background, GenevaLunch
Rashid Hamdani, left who was detained but for less time, with Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi was released from prison in Libya Thursday 10 June, according to his lawyer, and he should be able to leave the country and return to Switzerland this weekend. He is staying in a hotel in Tripoli while paperwork for his departure is completed. TSR public television reached him at the hotel and he confirmed that he has been freed, but refused to comment otherwise. Bern has not commented either.
Goeldi is an ABB employee who has spent 692 days in prison in Libya on charges of visa irregularities, following his arrest which came soon after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader.
Background, GenevaLunch
Rashid Hamdani, left and Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss businessman held by Libya since July 2008, Max Goeldi, is expected to be released from prison and allowed to return home to Switzerland when he finishes his four-month prison sentence 12 June, his lawyer has told Swiss media. Only 8 of the 53 days he served in prison in July-August 2008, after his arrest, have been taken into consideration in calculating the time he has purged.
Goeldi was arrested with Rashid Hamdani, another Swiss businessman, shortly after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader, for beating a member of his staff in a hotel.
Background, GenevaLunch
Rashid Hamdani, left and Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss media are drawing attention 21 April to the plight of Max Goeldi, who has now purged half of a four-month prison sentence in Libya. The 19 months of detention the Swiss businessman served before he was judged for visa violations did not count towards purging his sentence.
A letter written by Goeldi to one of Muammar Qadaffi’s sons, Seif al-Islam, has reportedly been published by Libyan news agency Ansa, which is close to the younger Qadaffi.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss public television TSR reports that Moussa Koussa, Libyan security and foreign affairs minister, said Sunday that his country’s crisis with Switzerland has not yet ended. Koussa was reportedly interviewed on the fringes of the Arab summit taking place in Libya, although it is unclear what media was interviewing him.
Koussa insists that Libya wants an international tribunal to review the arrest of Hannibal Qadaffi in Geneva in July 2008. The two countries agreed to a tribunal of three judges where each appoints a judge and the two must agreed on the third judge: to date they have not been able to agree on the third.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Libyan government told reporters that it has lifted its visa ban on European Union citizens, a move made in response to Switzerland’s ban on 155 Libyan citizens in December 2009. The news was announced by Libyan news agency Jana. The EU had earlier issued a statement to journalists at the summit that its ban on Libyans was lifted, after Switzerland said Thursday it had agreed to lift the ban, which other EU countries were obliged to respect. Switzerland’s visa ban was put in place after Libya failed to respect the terms of an August 2009 agreement that included freeing two Swiss businessmen. One of them, Max Goeldi, is serving a prison term in Libya, imposed in early 2010.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Jana, TSR (Fre)
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - Max Goeldi, Swiss businessman held in Libya for 19 months, should be allowed to go home, the European Union told Libyan officials Thursday 25 March. The office of Cecilia Malmström, European commissioner for security and internal affairs, Thursday 25 March praised Switzerland for making a gesture to resolve the impasse with Libya by saying it would lift a visa ban on some Libyans. Her spokesperson invited Libya to respond by “immediately freeing Max Goeldi.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government late Wednesday 24 March said it is “willing to lift the ban on entry into and transit through Switzerland for particular Libyan citizens as quickly as possible. In return, it expects Libya to lift its entry ban on citizens of countries from the Schengen area.” The Federal Council emphasized in its statement that it is willing to take this step to ensure the release of Max Goeldi, a businessman who has been held in Libya for 19 months.
The announcement came after a Brussels meeting between Switzerland’s foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, and Catherine Ashton, head of foreign and security policy of the European Union (EU.
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.
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
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.
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)
Rachid Hamdani, Max Goeldi, Swiss detained in Libya (©2009 DR / Amnesty International)
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The two Swiss men detained in Libya, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, appear together in a photo for the first time, distributed by Amnesty International’s Swiss office as a way of thanking the public for its support in recent days. Virtual candles have been lit in growing numbers since the start of December at www.bougieenlibye.ch and by today, 10 December and International Human Rights Day, 10,000 candles have been lit for the two men. They have also received more than 4,500 messages of support via Internet. Some 25,000 postcards from the public in Switzerland are also en route to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, for the men.
The men read messages sent via Twitter several times a day, on a computer at the embassy, where they are staying while they await a second trial. A first trial found the men guilty of tax and visa irregularities. They were detained in July 2008, shortly after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader.
“All these messages of support are really helping Rachid and me – they give us the courage to carry on, to remain hopeful,” Goeldi told Amnesty International eariler this week.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Amnesty International Switzerland, Virtual candles for Rachid and Max
Update 2 22:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Reports were published Tuesday evening 1 December by several international news agencies that two Swiss businessmen, Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani, have been sentenced to 16 months in prison and fined $1,671 each by a Libyan court. Reuters received an e-mail confirmation from the Swiss foreign affairs ministry late Tuesday night confirming the news. The men have been sentenced on visa irregularities charges, according to the Swiss spokesman, Reuters reports. They are currently both at the Swiss Embassy. The two have been unable to leave the country since July 2008, shortly after Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of Libya’s leader, was arrested in Geneva for abusing his staff at a hotel. The arrest sparked a diplomatic row which has not been resolved, and the new sentences could strain tensions even further.
The two men, in Libya on business at the time of their arrest, were at the centre of intense negotiations in August 2009, when Muammar Qadaffi appears to have promised to help release them soon. Agencies reporting the story quote an unnamed Libyan official who also says the men face another trial, but no details were provided.
TSR, Swiss public television, early Tuesday evening reported that an official at ABB, the multinational that employs Goeldi, confirmed to the station that the men had been sentenced.
