Swiss businessman held by Libya for nearly 2 years at center of diplomatic row released

Swiss held for nearly 2 years in Libya released

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya released on Thursday a Swiss businessman held for nearly two years at the center of a diplomatic row, a prison official and the man’s lawyer said.

Max Goeldi is one of two Swiss businessmen detained and convicted of violating residency laws after Swiss police arrested Hannibal Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and his wife in summer of 2008. The couple was detained for two days for allegedly beating their maid in a Geneva hotel.

The incident soured relations and Libya took measures to protest, including suspending visas for Swiss citizens, withdrawing funds from Swiss banks, stopping crude oil shipments and reducing flights to Switzerland.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the release.

The two Swiss businessmen were arrested soon afterward in July 2008. They were also tried on charges of operating a business illegally. Rachid Hamdani was acquitted of those charges and was allowed to leave Libya in February.

Goeldi was due to be released June 12. He was sentenced in November to 16 months in prison but an appeals court reduced the sentence to four months.

His lawyer, Saleh al-Zahif, told The Associated Press Goeldi was staying at a hotel in the capital Tripoli and has already met with Swiss officials. Al-Zahif said Goeldi is expected to depart Libya by next week after finalizing his exit visa and other documentation.

The prison official confirmed the release, speaking on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made.

The two were not imprisoned for entire time they have been held. But they were barred from leaving Libya. They were allowed to stay at the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli during their trials.

London-based Amnesty International had called Goeldi’s conviction and trial “politically-motivated.” The group said he was held incommunicado for at least two weeks in 2009.

Switzerland apologized for its treatment of Gadhafi and said it was open to possible compensation claims as part of an agreement, but later suspended the deal after repeated attempts to secure the release of Goeldi and Hamdani failed.

The Libyan leader spared no occasion to attack Switzerland over the incident. Last month, Moammar Gadhafi said Switzerland is behaving like a criminal organization and is involved in money laundering, assassinations and terrorism.

In February, he called on Muslims to wage jihad — or holy war — against Switzerland.

Switzerland, in return, tried to exert pressure on Tripoli by banning high-ranking Libyan officials from obtaining visas to Europe, but was forced to back down by Italy and other European countries with strong economic ties to the North African nation.