VZCZCXRO8062
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHTRO #0073/01 0261335
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 261335Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5732
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 6285

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000073 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/21/2020 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM CVIS SZ LY
SUBJECT: SWISS-LIBYAN WOES CONTINUE, NO RESOLUTION IN SIGHT 
 
REF: A) 09 TRIPOLI 1024; B) TRIPOLI 58 
 
TRIPOLI 00000073  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Gene A. Cretz, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Tripoli, 
Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1. (C/NF) Summary:  In a January 19 meeting, the Swiss Charge 
reported no progress in Switzerland's continued efforts -- via 
German mediation -- to resolve the situation of the two Swiss 
businessmen trapped in Libya, now residing in the Swiss Embassy. 
 He believed the recent addition of a French lawyer, Emmanuel 
Altit -- who represented the five Bulgarian nurses and 
Palestinian doctor during their infamous Libyan trials -- to the 
Swiss' legal team could improve the situation.  In response to 
Switzerland's continuing veto of numerous Schengen visas for 
Libyans, Libya is increasing the pressure on other European 
nations to isolate Switzerland and force it to capitulate, 
threatening to invoke a ban on visas on European travelers from 
Schengen states if Switzerland's policy does not change. End 
Summary. 
 
LIBYANS POSTPONE TRIALS UNTIL SWISS APPEAR IN PERSON 
 
¶2. (C/NF) Swiss Charge Stefano Lazzarotto reported no progress 
on Swiss efforts to resolve the situation of the two Swiss 
businessmen, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi.  According to 
Lazzarotto, the Libyan immigration court has twice postponed the 
appeals' trials in both cases, due to the refusal of Hamdani and 
Goeldi to appear in person at the hearing, as they are 
frightened of being re-arrested if they leave the premises of 
the Swiss Embassy.  (Note: Hamdani did attend the postponed 
appeals' trial January 24 and was allowed to return to the Swiss 
Embassy.  Additional details septel. End note.) The judge in the 
case reportedly does not want to conduct the hearings in 
absentia due to the stated purpose of wanting to hear from the 
defendants directly.  The tax trials have been postponed for the 
same reason, with no new court dates set. 
 
¶3. (C/NF) Lazzarotto reported that the businessmen had hired a 
second, French lawyer, Emmanuel Altit, to intervene.  Altit -- 
who represented the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor 
during their infamous Libyan trials -- met with Hamdani, Goeldi, 
and various Libyan officials during a recent five-day visit. 
Lazzarotto believed the addition of the French lawyer would 
improve the stalled situation, as the Libyan lawyer currently 
representing Hamdani and Goeldi, who is also the lawyer of Prime 
Minister-equivalent al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi's family, had come 
under increasing pressure to abandon the case.  Lazzarotto 
indicated that the Libyan lawyer, due to his relationships and 
the Libyan environment, "could not be completely trusted." 
 
GERMAN, QDF MEDIATION FOSTERING COMMUNICATION 
 
¶4. (C/NF) The German government continues to mediate with the 
Libyans on behalf of the Swiss, on both the judicial and 
political issues.  The Swiss Charge characterized German 
mediation as a "positive development," saying, "at least the 
Libyans are now communicating with us, even if it is exclusively 
through the German government."  The Germans have mediated two 
rounds of talks between the Swiss and the Libyans in Berlin, on 
December 22 and 28.  Lazzarotto was hopeful that another round 
of talks would be scheduled in the near future. 
 
¶5. (C/NF) According to Lazzarotto, Saif al-Islam's Qadhafi 
International Charity and Development Foundation (QDF) had been 
instrumental in arranging the first two meetings between the 
Libyans, Germans, and Swiss.  The QDF had also attempted to 
negotiate a diplomatic solution to the political row, but 
Lazzarotto argued that the QDF's proposed compromise "included 
stipulations wherein the Swiss side would give several more 
things to the Libyans and the Libyans would do nothing."  One of 
the stipulations encompassed charitable projects for Libyans, 
which Lazzarotto said the Swiss would be happy to do, "if we saw 
some progress on the Libyan side to settle the situation of our 
friends [Hamdani and Goeldi]." 
 
¶6. (C/NF) Lazzarotto reported that the investigation tribunal, 
the formation of which had been stipulated in the August 20, 
2009, memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two nations 
(ref A), was an abandoned project, as both sides could not agree 
on the designation of a third party judge to sit on the 
tribunal.  Since the September publication of Hannibal 
al-Qadhafi's arrest photos in Swiss newspapers, both sides had 
halted efforts to implement the MOU.  The Libyans are still 
insisting that Switzerland identify and prosecute the source of 
the leaked photos, while the Swiss government maintains that 
many people had access to the photos and identification of the 
particular source of the leak is near impossible. 
 
LIBYAN THREATS TO SCHENGEN STATES FURTHER ISOLATES SWITZERLAND 
 
¶7. (C/NF) Lazzarotto said the Swiss continue to face pressure 
from other European nations on its unilateral "Schengen veto" 
policy on Libyans . Switzerland recently broadened the veto 
 
TRIPOLI 00000073  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
policy beyond Libyan diplomats, officials, and Qadhafi relations 
to include certain Libyan businesspeople and students seeking to 
travel to Europe.  Lazzarotto explained that Switzerland was in 
no mood to compromise on its visa policy.  "No regular Swiss 
citizen has been allowed to apply for a visa to Libya since July 
2008," he reasoned.  "Why should we not apply the same 
regulations to Libyans?"  He further justified Switzerland's 
position by stating that the Schengen veto is the only way that 
Switzerland can control Libyan access to Switzerland.  "If a 
Libyan has a Schengen visa, he could easily travel to 
Switzerland without our permission."  Reasoning that the veto is 
not the end of the world for Libyan travelers to Europe, he 
pointed to the ability of each Schengen member nation to grant 
national visas to Libyan citizens; although he acknowledged the 
Libyan complaint that they have to apply for separate visas for 
each country in the Schengen zone that they want to visit. 
 
¶8. (C/NF) As reported in ref B, the Libyans have amped up their 
pressure on EU nations, threatening not to issue visas to 
Schengen visa states if the Swiss do not change their policy of 
vetoing Schengen visas for Libyans.  Lazzarotto expected 
European capitals to demarche Bern on the topic and said that he 
faced constant criticism in Tripoli when meeting with European 
embassy representatives.  However, due to Schengen regulations, 
he noted that other member states could not force Switzerland to 
capitulate to Libya's demands. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶9. (C/NF) In spite of the intervention of Germany, the political 
contretemps between Switzerland and Libya shows no signs of 
resolution in the near future.  Until the ultimate Libyan 
decision-maker is satisfied that Switzerland has paid sufficient 
retribution for embarrassing a member of the Qadhafi clan, the 
row is likely to continue.  Libya's latest threat to freeze visa 
issuance for Europeans is serving to further intensify the 
situation, but at this point, is unlikely to affect the Swiss 
position. 
CRETZ