Swiss businessmen "terrified" of leaving embassy in Tripoli

Swiss businessmen "terrified" of leaving embassy in TripoliGeneva/Tripoli - Two Swiss businessmen detained in Libya since the summer of 2008 are "terrified" of leaving their country's embassy in Tripoli, a newspaper Friday quoted the wife of one as saying.

Speaking to the Swiss daily Le Matin after Libyan Foreign Ministry official Khalid Keim said Max Goldi and Rashid Hamdani would be put on trial for visa violations and tax evasion, Rashid's wife, Bruna, said the two seemed "more afraid," in her conversations with them.

"They don't want to leave the embassy again," she told Le Matin. "They are terrified of being kidnapped again."

The two had been held in an undisclosed location for 53 days, without access to Swiss consular officials or their families.

When they were allowed to return to the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli earlier this month, many in Switzerland hoped the two might soon be allowed to return home.

Thursday's announcement that Libyan authorities plan to put them on trial made that hope seem more remote.

The two men are part of a diplomatic row between Switzerland and Libya that started in the summer of 2008, when Geneva police arrested Hannibal Gaddafi, Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi's son, and accused him of beating their servants at a luxury hotel. Hannibal's wife was also arrested.

The younger Gaddafi was released to Tripoli two days later, but trade between the two countries slowed to a trickle and flights between Tripoli and Zurich were canceled.

Days after Hannibal's arrest, security forces detained the two Swiss nationals who were working in Libya, alleging violations of residency laws.

Swiss Finance Minister Hans Rudolph Merz, who also holds the country's rotating presidency, travelled to Libya and signed an agreement to restart diplomatic ties, but no progress ensued on that front or regarding the two businessmen.

Libya says Switzerland is delaying the start of an international investigation into the Geneva arrest. Reports have said Tripoli is upset over photos published of Hannibal Gaddafi in Swiss papers.

The Swiss government and ABB, the Zurich-based engineering firm that employs Goldi, would not comment on Tripoli's announcement of a planned trial.

Keim said that for Libya, the Geneva arrest and the two Swiss nationals were unrelated cases and should not be mixed.

In Switzerland, Hamdani expressed concern for her husband and called on the Libyan leader to "show magnanimity." (dpa)