20091220

ZURICH (Reuters) - Trials of two Swiss businessmen in Libya, which had been due to take place this weekend, have been delayed until the start of next year, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Sunday.

The two were denied permission to leave Libya in July 2008 after a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was arrested in Geneva on charges, later dropped, of mistreating two domestic employees.

Max Goeldi, the Libya head of Swiss electrical engineering group ABB, and Rachid Hamdani, a construction company employee, have already been sentenced to 16 months in prison for immigration offences. They are now facing trials on charges of illegal economic activity.

Goeldi's trial has been moved to January 2 and Hamdani's to January 3, foreign ministry spokesman Erik Reumann said. "We cannot and will not comment on the reason for this," he added.

The men have yet to receive written charges, said Manon Schick of human rights group Amnesty International. "This does not follow international standards for fair trials," she said.

Critics within Switzerland have accused the government of mishandling the case, which has unsettled some of the foreign investors who are flocking to Libya's buoyant economy.

Libyan officials deny any connection between the arrest of Gaddafi's son and the case of the two businessmen.