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MIDDLE EAST

Swiss take Libya to court over hostages

Switzerland on Monday approved legal action to prosecute the Libyan regime for holding Swiss citizens Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi hostage, the justice ministry said.

Published: 6 June 2011 12:42 CEST

“The Federal Council authorises the opening of a penal procedure against the Libyan regime… over hostage taking and extortion and blackmail in the case of the two Swiss citizens Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi,” the ministry said in a statement.

The two men were blocked from leaving Libyan territory in a tit-for-tat action after the brief arrest in Switzerland of one of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s sons in July 2008 over mistreatment allegations by domestic staff.

On September 18, 2009, Hamdani and Goeldi were taken from the Swiss embassy, where they were staying, by Libyan officials to a secret location where they were held until November 9.

The two businessmen were later returned to the embassy, and Hamdani was allowed to leave the country in February 2010, while Goeldi was sentenced to jail for visa offences.

Goeldi only managed to return to Switzerland in June 2010.  

The action against the two Swiss came about after Kadhafi’s son Hannibal and his pregnant wife were held by Swiss police over complaints by two of their domestic staff that they had been mistreated by the couple at a Geneva hotel.

The two servants, who were subsequently compensated by the couple, later dropped their assault charges.

BUSINESS

French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

French authorities on Wednesday slapped a €90,000-per-day fine on e-commerce giant Amazon until it removes abusive clauses in its contracts with businesses using its platform to sell their goods.

Published: 14 April 2022 09:06 CEST
French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

The anti-fraud Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) service said the online sales giant’s contracts with third-party sellers who use its Amazon.fr website contain “unbalanced” clauses.

“The company Amazon Services Europe did not comply completely with an injunction it was served and it is now subject to a fine of €90,000 per day of delay” in applying the changes, the DGCCRF said in a statement.

It also urged the platform to conform with European rules on equity and transparency for firms using online platforms.

Amazon said the order would harm consumers.

“The changes imposed by the DGCCRF will stop us from effectively protecting consumers and permit bad actors to set excessive prices or spam our clients with commercial offers,” the e-commerce giant said in a statement.

“We will comply with the DGCCRF’s decision but we absolutely do not understand it and we are challenging it in court,” responded the e-commerce giant in a statement.

Amazon said the clauses that the DGCCRF has ordered removed had, for example “prevented the appearance of exorbitant prices for mask and hydroalcoholic gel during the pandemic”.

In 2019, Amazon was fined €4 million for “manifestly unbalanced” contract clauses with third-party sellers on its site in a case brought by the DGCCRF.

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