Swedish prosecutor finally treks to London to question Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally being questioned by prosecutors more than six years after he was first accused of rape in Sweden. Ingrid Isgren, Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy this morning, according to The Guardian, ending a stalemate which began in 2012 when the South American …

[Anonymous Coward]

And?

Marianne Ny, has warned that any procedure involving a foreign prosecutor would affect the quality of the interview

Sure. She could have done the interview and have her complaints BACKED by actual facts for 6 years. Then come again and again and again BACKED with facts every time while relying on mutual legal assistance treaties.

While I have no sympathy towards Assange, she has been as deliberately obstructive as him and then some (thus providing an excessive amount of evidence for his claims that this is political).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: And?

Nonsense.

She is not allowed to make exceptions to established law and process, so I suspect Assange will have caused some special permissions to be set up. The problem with that is that they have to be set up in such a way that they do not become loopholes in themselves - I am willing to bet about the first thing Assange will use in his defence of whatever they have on him is that they didn't follow procedure.

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Re: And?

This is actually a bend in Swedish Law.

Will the Embassy allow her to formally charge him?

Or is this a way for Sweden to save face because Assange ran out the clock? (At least on two of the counts)

Or is this a way for Ecuador to get rid of Assange by saying ok... you did rape these girls so you have to go? Or shut the Swedish issue down so they can kick him out to the Brits who'll then get him on jumping bail... and still send him back to Australia.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: And?

" Or shut the Swedish issue down so they can kick him out to the Brits who'll then get him on jumping bail"

There may be a few others besides TPTB wanting to jump on him about bail.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: And?

"...and still send him back to Australia."

Ah, the delicious irony of convicting him in a UK court then detransporting him to Oz :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: And?

"Sure. She could have done the interview and have her complaints BACKED by actual facts for 6 years."

I think its fair to say that you don't effectively imprison yourself in an Embassy for 6 years if you weren't worried that there was a good chance there were enough facts for you to be convicted and while I know some screeching Assange fanboys love to pretend the judicial system of fluffy liberal left sweden is only one step removed from that of north korea I think we all know thats BS.

I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is but I suspect Assange is getting close to or even past the time he'd have served anyway. Ironic really.

[John Smith 19]

"I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

But I think the length of time the US Govt wants to put him away for is measured in centuries.

And that's what he's worried about.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

"And that's what he's worried about."

Yeah right. Thats why he initially surrendered himself to the UK police, a country FAR more likely to extradite him to the USA than Sweden. Sorry, thats just the spin he dishes up to his anti-USA-stick-it-to-the-man-the-revolution-is-coming teenage and 20 something muppet followers who just lap that sort of anti establishment shit up.

No doubt I'll get modded to hell for this since there's a bucket load of these clowns on this site.

[Hardrada]

Re: "I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

"No doubt I'll get modded to hell for this since there's a bucket load of these clowns on this site."

Not really. As I write this you're at +7/-9, which is pretty tame. (I didn't vote on your post, BTW.)

[Mage]

Re: "I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

The UK was FAR more likely to ship him to USA than give bail and didn't. Sweden would not ship him to USA.

Wikileaks and Assange have no credibility on this.

[Awil Onmearse]

Re: "I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

"Sweden would not ship him to USA."

Why ever not? They ship people to Egypt to be tortured.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: "I don't know what the standard term for rape in sweden is "

The biggest punishment the US can give him is to ignore him.

[majorursa]

Re: And?

It has many times been said that he sought asylum because he feared extradition to the US. Ignoring that point and instead suggesting he has something to hide. in spite of the fact that he has not been accused, and the original accuser has withdrawn the statement, is malevolent and intentional. Is it that hard to even imagine the possibility that he didn't do it? Shame on you.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I need to sit down with my tin foil hat on.

Are we saying is that because wikileaks releases favoured the Trump that he will drop the U.S. attempts to get Arseange?

[JetSetJim]

>because wikileaks releases favoured the Trump that he will drop the U.S. attempts to get Arseange

dunno about that - with the famed high security on Trumps mail servers I wouldn't be surprised if there's a mail dump from there hitting wikileaks soon. I suspect at that point Trump will express less than favourable opinions on that site (no doubt also claiming that he's always maintained that position, too).

[Version 1.0]

I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server - he doesn't know how to use e-mail.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server

I doubt you'll find anything of interest on his mail server, the man manages to insult someone everytime he opens his gob.

If anything his e-mails will probably be a slew of attempts by his staff to reel him in and have him apologise for something.

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server

Assange commented there was very little in any information Wikileaks had about Trump that would be new and none would be surprising. Trump made sure of that. However, they had tons of information about Clinton. Once the light was turned on the cockroaches would flee.

I have no idea if the Swedish charges are solid, politically motivated to discredit him, or both. But for Sweden to take 6 years to meander to Ecuadorian embassy in London is definitely a head scratch. It's not like Assange was going anywhere or they had to find him. The timing makes it sound like the Swedes are looking for a way out because they feel the Trump administration is less interested in Assange and Wikileaks than the current one.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server

"I have no idea if the Swedish charges are solid, politically motivated to discredit him, or both. But for Sweden to take 6 years to meander to Ecuadorian embassy in London is definitely a head scratch."

It took so long because their legal jurisdiction is Sweden and their law states that the interview must take place within their jurisdiction. The Ecuadorian embassy in London is not in their jurisdiction. I believe they have had to make a special exception in law to allow this interview. Based on the average speed of government bureaucracy and the likely stringent attempts to make this exception very specific to this case rather than a general one with possible loopholes has likely taken quite some time to hammer out.

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server

The Swedes then are making the sloths we call Congress critters look good. I can see it taking a few months to draft proper legislation for this instance not 6 years.

[Loyal Commenter]

I doubt that you'll find much on Trumps mail server - he doesn't know how to use e-mail.

Of course he does, he writes beautiful emails, the best emails, they really are incredible!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't buy Assange's story - there has never been any attempt to get him. He's really not important enough, and the US has quickly realised that leaving him to his own devices was far more helpful. There's a saying that you should never remove the shovel from an adversary busy digging a hole for themselves, and Assange was well on his way to Australia by himself..

[kartstar]

Seems that some poor shmuck missed the fact that these "devices" you speak of still had an internet connection, and he was able to (arguably?) influence the US election from them.

[Anonymous Coward]

"there has never been any attempt to get him. He's really not important enough,"

Clinton’s State Department was getting pressure from President Obama and his White House inner circle, as well as heads of state internationally, to try and cutoff Assange’s delivery of the cables and if that effort failed, then to forge a strategy to minimize the administration’s public embarrassment over the contents of the cables. Hence, Clinton’s early morning November meeting of State’s top brass who floated various proposals to stop, slow or spin the Wikileaks contamination. That is when a frustrated Clinton, sources said, at some point blurted out a controversial query.

“Can’t we just drone this guy?” Clinton openly inquired, offering a simple remedy to silence Assange and smother Wikileaks via a planned military drone strike, according to State Department sources. The statement drew laughter from the room which quickly died off when the Secretary kept talking in a terse manner, sources said. Clinton said Assange, after all, was a relatively soft target, “walking around” freely and thumbing his nose without any fear of reprisals from the United States. Clinton was upset about Assange’s previous 2010 records releases, divulging secret U.S. documents about the war in Afghanistan in July and the war in Iraq just a month earlier in October, sources said. At that time in 2010, Assange was relatively free and not living cloistered in in the embassy of Ecuador in London. Prior to 2010, Assange focused Wikileaks’ efforts on countries outside the United States but now under Clinton and Obama, Assange was hammering America with an unparalleled third sweeping Wikileaks document dump in five months. Clinton was fuming, sources said, as each State Department cable dispatched during the Obama administration was signed by her.

- Nope, nothing there. No motivation for revenge, or actions taken whatsoever.

[John Smith 19]

"“Can’t we just drone this guy?” Clinton openly inquired, "

Cite please?

If true that alone would be a pretty good reason for not having her in the top spot.

[anonymous boring coward]

"“Can’t we just drone this guy?” Clinton openly inquired"

Source?

[El_Fev]

http://www.snopes.com/julian-assange-drone-strike/

Unproven so could or could not have been said

[anonymous boring coward]

"Unproven so could or could not have been said"

That goes for any statement.

Given the amount of misinformation and pure fabrication that's all over the internet nowadays, I don't belive in anything.

Incidentally, I heard that the strained relations between Trump and Hillary are because Trump used to bang her when Bill was away. I can't recall where I heard it though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Balance.

To further you're opinion you must first give the opposition opinion a good run.

Snopes.com is just the daily mail hiding behind the internet.

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Not quite....

The only way the US would want Assange is if he actually assisted Manning w the theft.

Manning has attempted suicide twice... he's cracking. Want to bet he'll cut a deal?

That's what scares Assange the most.

Only Assange is trapped.

He leaves the embassy, the Brits nab him for jumping bail.

He goes back to Australia. His only hope is that he does this within the first 100 days of Trump's office because Trump will be too busy to worry about Assange.

If Australia doesn't take away his passport (Something they threatened to do in the past and can legally do it...) Assange could leave Australia and make it harder for the US to go after him.

[Scorchio!!]

Re: Not quite....

"Assange is trapped."

Scorchio's corollary; when no obvious solution can be found, wait for your enemy to put his foot wrong. Julie is cracking too. :->

[majorursa]

Based on the number of prejudiced trolls here there is enough interest left for him.

[Paul Shirley]

"tin hat on"

Full double layer tin hat: leaking Hillary secrets during an election was deliberate provocation of the states and it's expected leader. Provocation that would increase pressure on both the UK and Sweden to not rendition him when he leaves the embassy. Attacking Trump would have the opposite effect of sending the snatch teams in without asking permission.

Probably the most disappointed man in the world with the Trump win.

[macjules]

A neat way to get Assange to travel to the USA and save the cost of extradition, extraordinary or otherwise.

1) Tell the narcissistic once that President Trump wants to meet him in person, congratulate him and shower him with praises. If he is very lucky he might get a ride in Donald's golden lift.

2) Assange turns up at JFK in a blaze of publicity

3) DHS grab him and poor Mr Assange is never heard from again, at least outside of ADMAX.

[Mark 85]

...although recent electoral results suggest he may have won some admirers in the administration too.

Well, the article writer seems to think so. But if Wikileaks ever dumps anything on Trump, I suspect all hell will break loose.

[John Brown (no body)]

"Are we saying is that because wikileaks releases favoured the Trump that he will drop the U.S. attempts to get Arseange?"

What US attempts to get Assange? Got any evidence of that apart from a supposed over emotional rant from H. Clinton?

[Dave 126]

Off topic, but...

What happened to the promised follow-up Reg article with Adam Curtis?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/13/adam_curtis_hypernormalisation_preview/

"Ever generous, Curtis is happy to throw open the floor to Reg readers once you’ve had a chance to see it next week; he answered some of our general questions here."

(A link to the Reg's first Hypernormalisation article was presented in the column to the right of this Assange article, jogging my memory).

It's understandable if a commentator on geopolitics has been busy digesting the events of the last month.

[phuzz]

Re: Off topic, but...

"busy digesting the events of the last month"

Translation: huddled in the corner alternating between drinking and crying.

[saba khan]

Re: Off topic, but...

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[james 68]

Wouldn't really surprise me if Trump did make motions to get assange off the hook, just as it would not surprise me if Snowden soon meets with an unfortunate accident.

[Dave 126]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/10/edward-snowden-extradition-vladimi-putin-trump-russia

[Anonymous Coward]

a sweet deal

the Baltics for Snowden. Deal done, both sides happy! :/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: a sweet deal

The Baltics are a small target. Putin will probably talk Trump into handing Alaska back to "his friend" before the four years are up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: a sweet deal

"the Baltics" (I presume you mean the Baltic states) are beautiful countries with nice people.

Alaska has Sarah Palin.

He can have Alaska any time, for free.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: a sweet deal

Sorry, no offense meant to the Baltic States. I just meant a bigger target in getting one over on Trump and USA. Giving Sarah Palin to Russia as well would be a bit mean though

[Anonymous Coward]

@James

Snowden is FSB. Or so a friend who's Russian keeps telling me. ;-)

[Joe Harrison]

Re: @James

The Russians think everyone is FSB.

[noboard]

Surely

as far as America goes, he can just claim he was keeping the documents on his own private web server for convenience and he'll get off scot free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Really?

Assange's team maintains that they have sought to have the interview take place in the UK since 2010.

Not according to Swedish law, and however much Wikileaks and St Jules™ think of themselves, they're not important enough to switch Swedish law for. I suspect the only reason it's happening now is because it also negatively affects the rights of the girls involved and they may have found a way to make this happen without creating a loophole for St Jules™ to crawl through.

WikiLeaks maintains that Assange is still under threat from American persecution because of his activities as a publisher of contributions provided by whistleblowers including Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, although recent electoral results suggest he may have won some admirers in the administration too.

Of course WL will try to maintain that myth, otherwise people would be asking St Jules™ what he is actually worried about instead of this ego-inflating lie. He really isn't important enough - well, OK, maybe he is now after helping to rig an election.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: Really?

> Not according to Swedish law, and however much Wikileaks and St Jules™ think of themselves, they're not important enough to switch Swedish law for.

I read an interview with Assange, about the Hilary leaks recently. It was good, interesting reading right up until the point the journo asked about this case, at which point it was an easy reminder of what a slimey toerag Assange can be

For example, "In Sweden I am not charged,". There's no way that Assange isn't acutely aware that Swedish law requires this interview before he can be charged, so whilst it's not technically untrue, it's a rather manipulative statement to make.

Can't blame the journalist for asking about it, but somewhat ruined an otherwise interesting interview for me.

[Scorchio!!]

Re: Really?

"Can't blame the journalist for asking about it, but somewhat ruined an otherwise interesting interview for me."

Oh, I dunno; it's always interesting to poke a festering sore to see how much pus there is therein. The journalist may have done this at the CIA's request. Black helicopter icon for the sake of Julie's paranoia.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Really?

"Not according to Swedish law, and however much Wikileaks and St Jules™ think of themselves, they're not important enough to switch Swedish law for."

Yeah, well. Sweden doesn't normally ask for extradition of someone who had a couple of one-night stands with two different women, and the condom broke, and the women corroborated some story, and accused him of rape. Both being obviously scorned.

Just imagine the workload on the authorities if this sort of investigative response was normal for things like that...

That's not an extradition-level crime. So SOMETHING weird is going on in Sweden.

The Swedish judiciary does tend to have a fairly high malleability when it comes to following current political and ideological correctness. Some things are suddenly much more important than others.

And at the moment feminism is the order of the day in Sweden.

Sweden does not have a jury system, which could have helped bringing some sanity and common sense into verdicts. And Sweden does lapse into dogmatic ideas -frequently. This puts pressure on the small clique that must deliver a verdict to not upset media and public opinion -the "nämndemän", which are nominated by the political parties! They are a sort of nominated permanent jurors, with minimal to no previous judicial knowledge. (But can serve for a decade or more!)

Furthermore, people, including "nämndemän", don't have any anonymity in Sweden -so there is pressure to come up with a politically correct verdict in any well publicised trial. Sweden is a consensus society above all.

What would possibly go wrong in such a system?

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Really?

"Yeah, well. Sweden doesn't normally ask for extradition of someone who had a couple of one-night stands with two different women, and the condom broke, and the women corroborated some story, and accused him of rape. Both being obviously scorned."

That's not the only reason. He knowingly left the country after being informed by his lawyer that he was to be interviewed preparatory to being charged. The lawyer already admitted that and got charged.

Likewise, he's looking at a charge of jumping bail in the UK. Both are instances of cocking a snoot at the judiciary and most countries take that very, very seriously indeed.

[Richard 12]

Rape isn't serious?

Take a step back and look at yourself.

He's accused of having sex with someone who said No. That is rape and is indeed deadly serious.

The guy is not scared of being deported to the US. It's much easier to get deported to the US from the UK than from Sweden, yet he chose to travel here of his own free will.

I don't kniw what actually happened, but his behaviour after the accusations were made is highly suspicious and implies that he believes there is a significant chance of him being convicted of said rape charge.

After all, he decided to explicitly break the law purely to avoid the pre-charge interview.

Contempt of UK court carries a higher sentence - and certain deportation. The only question is where we send him after his stay at Her Majesty's pleasure.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Rape isn't serious?

"I don't kniw what actually happened"

I have read up on it, which is what I based my posting on.

[Richard 12]

Re: Rape isn't serious?

No you haven't. You know nothing of what he did to and/or with those women as you were not there and there is no court case that you could read.

On the other hand, Sweden's acts have been tested in court. They are absolutely within the law to require that Assange go to Sweden and face his pre-charge interview.

Assange took that all the way to the top. It is the most contested EU arrest warrant there has ever been, and it has proven to be completely legal and legally binding.

His behaviour after that is both illegal and highly suspicious. I am having a very hard time avoiding saying that Julian Assange is a rapist. Very hard.

[Truckle The Uncivil]

Re: Rape isn't serious?

There have been posts that say that neither of the alleged victims believe that rape occurred. Regretfully I cannot cite anything official. So it is not as 'clear cut' as you seem to want to believe. Sweden is a country that believes in rehabilitation not punishment. What is the point of punishing someone who already regrets what they did (ie. rehabilitated)? Adding in the fact that all this appears to be on the soft side of rape (no coercion at all), he would not have got two years. Assange had no need to fear Sweden but he (still) does have reason to fear the USA. There are enough 'rogues' there that he would be broken, destroyed somehow.

[Stevie]

Bah!

What in Azahoth's secret syllable are "pre-written questions"? A blank sheet of paper?

For pre-fuck's sake.

[Loyal Commenter]

Re: Bah!

I'm assuming that the folks in the Ecuadorian Embassy have asked for the questions to be submitted to them in advance, and that these are the ones to be put to Assange.

By the sounds of it, the Ecuadorians are the ones who will actually be asking the questions, on behalf of the Swedish prosecutors, and if the answers are not satisfactory, Mr Assange may find himself no longer their guest. At this point, it'll get interesting, as the UK Plod will pick him up and hand him over to the Swedes, but not before British judges hand him a short custodial sentence for jumping bail and fleeing the country (which he would have avoided if he hadn't definitely committed that particular crime).

[Steve the Cynic]

Re: Bah!

"a short custodial sentence for jumping bail and fleeing the country"

Well, no. Jumping bail, I'll let you have, but he's still *in* the UK.

The Unreliable Source informs us that the interior of an embassy remains part of the territory of the host country, although the host country may not send representatives into the embassy without permission, even to, for example, fight a fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission section "Extraterritoriality".

[Loyal Commenter]

Re: Bah!

Good point, I stand corrected.

[Richard 12]

Re: Bah!

Sweden has prior claim, the EU Arrest Warrant has to be completed first.

His future is roughly thus:

1) He will be ejected from the Ecuadorian Embassy at some point.

2) He is then arrested by UK plod and instantly taken to Sweden, as per the EU Arrest Warrant.

3) Swedish pre-charge interview takes place, he is charged, the court case happens

4) He is found guilty or not guilty and either serves time or does not.

5) He is then instantly deported to the UK.

6) UK judgement on his contempt of court.

7) He then serves time - likely a long sentence due to the blatant contempt.

8) He is then deported from the UK, either back to Australia or to anywhere else that has a valid claim on him.

If he really does have any reason to fear deportation to the US, then jumping bail has made it absolutely certain that they can have him at their leisure.

The guy is an idiot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr Assange

I presume?

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Mr Assange

@AC

Mr Assange

I presume?

That would be question 1 on the sheet

[Florida1920]

He faces no threat from the U.S. now

Trump would probably give him a medal and a job in his administration.

[bombastic bob]

Re: He faces no threat from the U.S. now

"Trump would probably give him a medal and a job in his administration."

A presidential pardon might be an interesting twist...

[I don't think he'll do it, though]

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: He faces no threat from the U.S. now

"A presidential pardon might be an interesting twist..."

Can someone not convicted, not even charged and so far not even extradition proceedings started, get a presidential pardon?

[Captain DaFt]

Re: He faces no threat from the U.S. now

Why not? Nixon got one.

[TVU]

Re: He faces no threat from the U.S. now

"Trump would probably give him a medal and a job in his administration."

^ This. Since Assange/Wikileaks/Putin all did their best to interfere in US presidential election to help get Trump elected, Assange will be able to walk out of the Ecuadorian embassy on 20 January 2017, the day of Trump's inauguration, safe in the knowledge that he will not be extradited to the USA.

[John Smith 19]

How can you tell when a real estate developer is lying?

His lips are moving.

Trust the D without an iron clad contract witnessed by 5 people not his employees or family?

How dumb would you have to be.

[Professor Ed.]

Pretty DEEP pockets; Those moral Brits: It has been reported that the 24-hr police presence at the embassy to prevent Assange from escaping has cost London’s Metropolitan police $18.3 million. Right, and for failure to wear a condom............

[John Brown (no body)]

"$18.3 million. Right, and for failure to wear a condom..........."

No, that's for contempt of court, a far, far more serious charge. Try going into court and telling the judge to fuck off and see what that gets you. And don't forget that you really believe you never said it, contrary to all the evidence, and refuse to apologise to the court.

[really nope]

Its odd how if the USA is out to get him , has his followers claim they are , they never attempted to do so while he was at large in the UK , especially given that the UK is supposed to be the USA's 'lap dog ' and it would easy for them to do so . Has the same followers claim .

Could it be the 'all powerful ' USA is not that powerful or could it be they no real interest in him in the first place ?

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Vegan sandwiches or Swedish Meetballs?

Ingrid Isgren, Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy this morning...

Last month when Pamela Anderson visited him, she bought along some vegan food for him

Assange was apparently unimpressed with the meal choice. “He said I tortured him with bringing him vegan food,” Anderson said.

http://time.com/4532939/pamela-anderson-julian-assage-vegan-lunch/

If the swedes bought him some more vegan food, then they are playing bad cop. If it were Swedish Meatballs, then they are playing at good cop.

(If it's Swedish Meatballs from Ikea, then there's no escape)

[Glen Turner 666]

Not sure this works in Assange's favour

I don't think this is a win for Assange. He still can't leave the embassy, as the UK will arrest him for his failure to appear, at which point the USA might well lob in a deportation request. A request which will then be top of the queue, assuming that Sweden withdraw their request for arrest.

As for things being different with President Trump, let's see. Because Trump owes the FBI a lot, and the US law/intelligence agencies desperately want Assange. If only to make an example of, as they are doing with Manning. I'm not sure Trump views Assange as anything more than a convenient dropbox for the work of Putin, and if Wikileaks didn't do the job then someone else would have been found.

I get the feeling that this is much more about solving Equador's problem than Assange's problem.

[aberglas]

The Swedes can save face

Now that the lesser charges have expired, they can drop this one while still saying that the lesser two were valid. That is all that is going on.

The term "rape" is being abused. It normally implies violence or a threat of violence. There has never been any allegation of this. Assange may be an arsehole, but he is not violent. Some would say that a woman changing her mind after the event is "rape" because the man should have been more caring...

I suspect that this was never a ploy to get Assange to the US, just an incompetent Swedish prosecutor. But I would not bet my life in a small US cell over it. And remember, a US jail is hell compared to a Swedish one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The Swedes can save face

But I would not bet my life in a small US cell over it. And remember, a US jail is hell compared to a Swedish one.

Especially for convicted rapists.

[Indolent Wretch]

Re: The Swedes can save face

No the term rape is not being "abused". The term rape covers all aspects of non-consensual sex. I believe specifically here that the accusers consented to safe sex which occurred. Then later were woken to find they were having unsafe sex that they had explicitly not consented to.

Both the Swedish justice system and it has been confirmed the British justice system are happy with this being outside the scope of consensual sex and therefore a charge of rape could be justified.

To say that rape implied some form of violence is utterly wrong but given you've managed to put a line like "because the man should have been more caring" in your statement that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I assume you also feel that if the girls too drunk to say no then she's fair game?

[Ben Tasker]

Re: The Swedes can save face

> The term "rape" is being abused. It normally implies violence or a threat of violence.

No, that would be "Violent Rape" or similar.

The term Rape is all about consent. Sex without consent is rape. Fairly simple.

> Some would say that a woman changing her mind after the event is "rape" because the man should have been more caring...

Some would say that if a woman says "yes, but only if you rubber up" means you've only got consent if you rubber up, and that consent wasn't given (in fact was almost explicitly denied) for bareback.

[Anonymous Coward]

In all of this

Those who have understood the implications of the WikiLeaks revelations will have gained some power over the machines of control, world war three might just be a bit harder to kick off "for the lol's".

I hope he didn't commit rape and I hope the governments and militaries of the world avoid doing the same to the planet. I commend his alleged work with the leaks but not his alleged misdeeds.

May our eyes stay open and our focus include the horizons.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Admirers in the new administration"

This actually points to a reason why Wikileaks would have been so one sided in its leaking. If Clinton is president, then Assange would feel he needs to hide out in the embassy for another 4-8 years. Since Trump is so easily manipulated - say good things about him or do things favorable to him and he likes you, do the opposite you feel the ire of his 3am tweet storm - he just had to be seen as helping Trump in the election and he'll finally be able to leave the embassy in two short months!

[Schlimnitz]

Dear commentards

Read this: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/julian-assanges-defence-statement/

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Dear commentards

"8. A week later, I learned to my surprise that a different prosecutor by the name of “Marianne Ny” had reopened the preliminary investigation without any consultation or opportunity for me to be heard – after I had already been cleared and the case had been closed."

There you go. As I commented below about how Swedish "justice" works. Bit of a circus at times. Guess the media pressure got to the justice system.. One would have thought that Kafka had had experience of Sweden.

[anonymous boring coward]

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/julian-assanges-defence-statement/

"53. Thiessen argued that the US should put pressure on any state in which I was located and that the US should, if necessary, arrest me even without the consent of that state. He cited legal advice from the Department of Justice regarding FBI operations abroad:

“The United States should make clear that it will not tolerate any country — and particularly NATO allies such as Belgium and Iceland — providing safe haven for criminals who put the lives of NATO forces at risk. With appropriate diplomatic pressure, these governments may cooperate in bringing Assange to justice. But if they refuse, the United States can arrest Assange on their territory without their knowledge or approval.”"

That would give just slight cause for concern, I would have thought.