Libyan court finds Swiss man not guilty
Case was at heart of diplomatic row
A Libyan court found Swiss businessman Rachid Hamdani not guilty of the final charges against him yesterday and his lawyer said he could soon return home after being stranded in Libya for a year and a half.
The prosecution of Mr Hamdani and fellow Swiss businessman Max Goeldi has ruptured ties between Libya and Switzerland and unsettled some of the foreign investors who flocked to oil exporter Libya after it emerged from international isolation.
The court in the Libyan capital cleared Mr Hamdani, who had been working in Libya for a Swiss construction firm, of charges of violating business rules. He had already successfully appealed against a 16-month prison term for visa irregularities.
"He is free to leave Libya if there is no appeal," Salah Zahaf, the lawyer who represents Mr Hamdani, told reporters.
Mr Goeldi and Mr Hamdani were barred from leaving Libya in July 2008, days after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son was arrested in Switzerland on charges, later dropped, of abusing two servants. Libyan officials deny the cases are linked.
Mr Goeldi, a manager for Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB, will appear in court later this month to appeal against his conviction over the visa irregularities. On Saturday, a court fined him about $800 for violating business rules.
A spokesman for Amnesty International, which has campaigned for the release of the Swiss businessman, urged Libya to give back Mr Hamdani's passport and issue him an exit visa.
"The acquittal means the way has been cleared for a return to Switzerland," Daniel Graf told Switzerland's SF1 television station. "We hope that Rachid Hamdani does not travel back to Switzerland except together with Max Goeldi," he said.
Mr Goeldi and Mr Hamdani's problems began soon after police arrested Hannibal Gaddafi and his pregnant wife in a luxury lakeside hotel in Geneva. Swiss prosecutors charged them with mistreating two domestic employees.
Mr Gaddafi and his wife were quickly released, but OPEC member Libya halted oil exports to Switzerland and withdrew $5 billion worth of assets from Swiss banks. Swiss prosecutors dropped the charges against Mr Gaddafi and his wife in September 2008.
For the past two months, Mr Goeldi and Mr Hamdani have been staying inside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, where the Libyan authorities have no jurisdiction.
Libya was for years subject to international sanctions. These were lifted after Muammar Gaddafi agreed in 2003 to give up banned weapons programmes.