Based on the Guardian's story, the women are charging that although the sex began as consensual it became non-consensual to some extent when Assange refused to wear a condom. If that wasn't clear in my rendition of the facts, I apologize.
The fact that 'honey traps' are a standard intelligence tool isn't evidence. fairleft
I don't think that implication stands up given the available evidence, which is so flimsy that it had to be withdrawn almost immediately.
As for honey traps - I'll just assume you know more about those than I do, and that you're presenting your lack of evidence about them in good faith.
There is nothing 'flimsy' about two witnesses alleging that crime. Eyewitness testimony is generally accorded a great deal of weight in any legal system I've ever heard of. Being taken seriously has long been a very sensitive issue for women alleging sexual assault and misconduct, and I'm hoping you'll keep that in mind in future comments. fairleft
But that doesn't detract from the point that Assange enjoys the presumption of innocence, and that witnesses enjoy the presumption of good faith. These principles should not be mutually exclusive. Particularly not for people relying on second-hand information.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Generally, prosecutors everywhere are at one with the police, but also don't like to be embarassed by judges and well-paid defense attorneys. It sounds like Sweden is nothing special in this regard.
But that doesn't detract from the point that Assange enjoys the presumption of innocence, and that witnesses enjoy the presumption of good faith. . . . Particularly not for people relying on second-hand information.
We all should take note of the italicized passage and make sure we look into a mirror while doing so.
We also should try to find a way to try to keep as much focus as possible on the political priority, raising consciousness about the Afghanistan tragecy. Justice for Assange and his alleged victims is important, but still trivial relative to what is going on to Afghanistan. fairleft
It may mean that the prosecutor let the police tell her what the law was,
It doesn't normally work that way. Certainly not with high-profile cases like this.
But I don't see how the remaining allegations, which are the potentially significant thing going forward, are affected in any particular way at all by the overboard rape charge story.
The credibility of the allegations is affected in that they represent a political compromise between what the police wanted and what the prosecutor was prepared to give them. Which means that there is a non-negligible probability that they are still exaggerated.
It's a pattern we've seen before in Scandinavia: Pretty much every time the police pick up some lefties or more or less random brown people, they go straight to the press and present their catch with great fanfare. After a few hours, it is quietly announced that the prosecutor told them to let most of the suspects go because they had no good reason to detain them in the first place. As they move up through the tiers of the judicial system (higher courts are generally more independent of the police and political pressure than lower courts) it becomes increasingly clear that the case is garbage.
What we've seen so far is consistent with this picture, although of course we've hardly seen enough to start extrapolating yet.
By the way, it's not confirmed, but most news sources indicate that at least one and maybe both of the women are widely known individuals, not Mata Haris, who have worked for several years or more in Sweden at sort of leftist/alternative jobs, or for those sorts of organizations. fairleft
Was he detained/charged at all?
As for 'widely known sort of leftists' - sources?
Interestingly:
CORRECT: Swedish Prosecutor To Look Into Assange Case This Week - WSJ.com
Under Swedish law, molestation is defined broadly and can refer to anything from groping someone to inappropriate, non-sexual behavior, for example, disrupting public order.
As I understand it Swedish law has an extremely broad definition of rape which includes almost any non-consensual or inappropriate activity. So if the rape case has been dropped, I'd suggest that makes a conviction for molestation somewhat unlikely.
In this case the press found out about the warrant immediately but Assange didn't - which certainly seems bizarre to me.
We also should try to find a way to try to keep as much focus as possible on the political priority, raising consciousness about the Afghanistan tragecy. Justice for Assange and his alleged victims is important, but still trivial relative to what is going on to Afghanistan.
On this we agree... But then why did you write a whole diary solely dedicated to these accusations against Assange and why do you focus all your comments on supporting them? "Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char
The Guardian reports that neither of the women involved in the case had originally wanted the case to be prosecuted. The paper says that Ms. W wanted to report the alleged rape to police but didn't want them to bring charges against Assange. The paper says Ms. A went with Ms. W to the police to offer moral support, but then became entangled in police questioning. The Guardian notes that neither police nor prosecutors have spoken to Assange to get his version of events.
Now - as someone who has indirect experience of rape/molestation claims from when an ex of mine decided to visit a so-called spiritual guru who abused her, the interesting thing about claims like these is that legal authorities rarely prosecute, precisely because of lack of solid evidence.
In my girlfriend's case it took months for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide that a prosecution wasn't going to happen.
And in this case we have evidence which was only presented when someone 'became entangled in police questioning' - but which led to an almost instant arrest warrant.
Perhaps they're simply far more efficient in Sweden. But it would be interesting, wouldn't it, to compare this story with the progress of comparable cases.
New Details Emerge in the Case Against WikiLeaks Founder - Newsweek
The Guardian says Ms. A also told the Swedish paper: "The charges against Assange are, of course, not orchestrated by the Pentagon. The responsibility for what happened to me and the other girl lies with a man who has a twisted attitude to women and a problem with taking 'no' for an answer."
Of course. And someone who was reporting rape or molestation would doubtless have that fact foremost in their minds to the point where they'd be sure to mention it in an interview with a newspaper. Because after you've been raped and/or molested, talking to newspapers who just happen to find out who you are, even though rape claims are supposed to be anonymous, is certainly something you're going to want to do immediately.
I can confirm that international politics and newspaper interviews were absolutely foremost in my girlfriend's mind when she was sobbing and describing her story to the policewoman who interviewed her in my living room.
But anyway.
Borgstrom also criticized the prosecutor for not questioning Assange immediately in the case. "It is obvious that he is a suspect of sex crimes, and if he leaves the country, then we may never be able to hear his explanation," the attorney explained. The fear that Assange might leave Sweden was apparently what provoked the warrant last week, according to a statement posted Monday on the Sweden Prosecution Authority's website. The prosecutor "decided that Julian Assange was to be arrested," based on information that police gave her over the phone about the allegations -- a typical procedure, authorities said. "The prosecutor was also made aware that the individual concerned was a foreign national and that he was about to leave the country," the chronology said. One reason for issuing the warrant was "that there was a risk that he would have time to leave the country before authorities had time to interrogate him. There was also a risk that he could have interfered with the investigation." A group that claims to work to protect individuals' legal rights in the Swedish justice system said Monday that it has reported the on-call prosecutor to the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman of Justice. It was unclear what action, if any, the ombudsman could take against the prosecutor. "We can see that, time after time, prosecutors don't follow the Swedish objectivity laws," said Johann Binninge, founder of the Organisation for Safe Legal Proceedings. "When accusations come in, prosecutors don't even check facts before they take coercive measures, and this is contrary to Swedish laws. In this case, the prosecutor only listened to one individual's story but didn't bother checking the other side of the story before accusing Mr. Assange of a very serious crime. This is why we have reported her." News of the warrant reached a Swedish media outlet, the prosecution authority said, but "the authority does not know how this happened, and the authority is not allowed to investigate this." Under Swedish law, news outlets are protected from police investigations into their sources.
"It is obvious that he is a suspect of sex crimes, and if he leaves the country, then we may never be able to hear his explanation," the attorney explained.
The fear that Assange might leave Sweden was apparently what provoked the warrant last week, according to a statement posted Monday on the Sweden Prosecution Authority's website.
The prosecutor "decided that Julian Assange was to be arrested," based on information that police gave her over the phone about the allegations -- a typical procedure, authorities said.
"The prosecutor was also made aware that the individual concerned was a foreign national and that he was about to leave the country," the chronology said. One reason for issuing the warrant was "that there was a risk that he would have time to leave the country before authorities had time to interrogate him. There was also a risk that he could have interfered with the investigation."
A group that claims to work to protect individuals' legal rights in the Swedish justice system said Monday that it has reported the on-call prosecutor to the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman of Justice. It was unclear what action, if any, the ombudsman could take against the prosecutor.
"We can see that, time after time, prosecutors don't follow the Swedish objectivity laws," said Johann Binninge, founder of the Organisation for Safe Legal Proceedings.
"When accusations come in, prosecutors don't even check facts before they take coercive measures, and this is contrary to Swedish laws. In this case, the prosecutor only listened to one individual's story but didn't bother checking the other side of the story before accusing Mr. Assange of a very serious crime. This is why we have reported her."
News of the warrant reached a Swedish media outlet, the prosecution authority said, but "the authority does not know how this happened, and the authority is not allowed to investigate this." Under Swedish law, news outlets are protected from police investigations into their sources.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/24/sweden.wikileaks.assange/ fairleft
Is it usual for an arrest warrant to be issued immediately in cases like these? Or is it more usual to bring suspects in for questioning, check forensic evidence, and build up a case that is based on more than hearsay?
I don't know, but I'd advise that in this case "similar cases" means "cases where the accused is a foreign national." Police is usually more trigger-happy when dealing with foreigners, because they suspect (or, in some cases, pretend to suspect) that said foreigner will abscond to a foreign country if he gets the chance.
Is it usual for anonymous victims to give press interviews that reassure everyone that the Pentagon isn't involved?
That could have been in response to a leading question. Newsies usually Bowdlerize their interviews, so it's the next best thing to impossible to tell what she was responding to unless you have a taped conversation where you can see both interviewer and interviewee.
How did the Swedish press find the identity of the anonymous alleged victims?
That's easy: The Swedish police leaks worse than a sieve.
It appears that yes it is common for the prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant as soon as there appears to be a case. In Sweden, the police can only arrest independently if a crime is being committed or the suspect is escaping the scene of the crime. Otherwise the prosecutor must issue an arrest warrant first. So an arrest warrant is often issued before the police picks the suspect up for questioning.
Swedish press of course knows this and used to not print something based solely on an arrest warrant. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
The Guardian says Ms. A also told the Swedish paper: "The charges against Assange are, of course, not orchestrated by the Pentagon. The responsibility for what happened to me and the other girl lies with a man who has a twisted attitude to women and a problem with taking 'no' for an answer." Of course. And someone who was reporting rape or molestation would doubtless have that fact foremost in their minds to the point where they'd be sure to mention it in an interview with a newspaper.
Of course. And someone who was reporting rape or molestation would doubtless have that fact foremost in their minds to the point where they'd be sure to mention it in an interview with a newspaper.
Well, though the article ATinNM unearthed does indeed indicate the possibility of a rather biased media manipulator, I note that the Pentagon remark from "Ms. A" was foremost in her mind because she was reacting to earlier talk from Assange's side.
He said he had been warned that the US Pentagon was planning to use dirty tricks to spoil things for WikiLeaks.
To be precise, the above is translated from an Aftonbladet interview of Assange appearing a day after that of "Ms. A", however, there were similar utterings earlier. I wasted time following back the sources:
