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Sweden Reopens Investigation Into Rape Claim Against Julian Assange
Country's chief prosecutor reopens case against WikiLeaks founder, overruling decision of Stockholm chief prosecutor
STOCKHOLM -- A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a news conference in London, July 26, 2010. Sweden's Chief Prosecutor said on Wednesday she was reopening a preliminary investigation into rape charges against Assange. (REUTERS/Andrew Winning/Files) Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks - an online whistle-blower that has angered Washington by publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The case was dismissed last week by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Assange, an Australian citizen, had raped a Swedish woman who had reported him to police.
The woman's lawyer appealed the decision. Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny decided to reopen the case Wednesday, saying new information had come in on Tuesday.
"We went through all the case material again, including what came in, and that's when I made my decision," to reopen the case, Ny told The Associated Press by phone.
She declined to say what new information she had received or whether Assange, who was questioned by investigators on Monday, would be arrested.
An arrest warrant issued Aug. 20 was withdrawn within 24 hours amid the back-and-forth between prosecutors.
Ny said "it's not entirely uncommon" that such reversals take place in Sweden, in particular regarding allegations of sex crimes.
Ny also decided that another complaint against Assange should be investigated on suspicion of "sexual coercion and sexual molestation." That overruled a previous decision to only investigate the case as "molestation," which is not a sex offense under Swedish law.
Investigators have not released details about either case, though a police report obtained by the AP shows both women had met Assange in connection with a seminar he gave in Stockholm on Aug. 14. The report shows the women filed their complaints together six days later.
Wikileaks made headlines around the world July 25 when it released tens of thousands of pages of secret U.S. documents about Afghanistan.
Assange is seeking legal protection for WikiLeaks in Sweden, one of the countries where the group says it has servers. The Swedish Migration Board has confirmed that Assange has applied for a work and residence permit in the Scandinavian country.
Assange did not immediately respond to the rape case being reopened, and his defense lawyer Leif Silbersky didn't answer calls seeking comment.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said the group backs Assange.
"We hope that he will clear his name and meanwhile the WikiLeaks organization is going on with its endeavors," Hrafnsson told AP.
WikiLeaks says it intends to publish 15,000 more Afghan war documents in coming weeks, a disclosure that U.S. officials say could endanger innocent people or confidential informants.
Claes Borgstrom, a lawyer who represents both women, welcomed the decision Wednesday.
"This is a redress for my clients, I have to say, because they have been dragged through the mud on the Internet, for having made things up or intending to frame Assange," Borgstrom said.
Borgstrom had previously dismissed rumors that the sex allegations were part of a conspiracy against Assange, saying "There is not an ounce of truth in all this about Pentagon, or the CIA, or smear campaigns, nothing like it."
Associated Press writers Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Ian MacDougall in Oslo, Norway, contributed to this report.
- Posted in
119 Comments so far
Show Allhere we go again............
No... The swedes were just holding out for a bigger bribe. Must have figured they were aiming too low
nice one dboylon................probably in cahoots with the danes.
Is another wicki leak is imminent?
Is another wicki leak is imminent?
I don't believe the charges either. But it's amazing how arrogant they've become in framing people that they don't even make a half-assed attempt to make the story look convincing.
They just want to convict him in the court of public opinion, so that average folk think he's a wacko, therefore not take him seriously. This tactic is undermining the very credibility of the organization. It is incredibly effective. He will be talked about, but big media will not let him speak.
COOL: You understand the mechanisms well. Great post.
Both women filed complaints at the same time? Do the prosecutors really expect anyone to believe that this is not a frameup?
Yes they do. If the prosecutors were not confident that a majority of people would believe the accusations, we would see that a large chunk of western economies, i.e. the litigation and media arenas, particularly in liberal regions of the USA, would simply not exist as the bloated anti-social cancers that they are today.
Interesting- as Wikileaks has just had the grand-opening of their "batcave", in Stockholm.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/wikileaks-servers-move-underground-nuclear-bunker
The US and all their play/kill-mates, just can't have any of that.
Lots of muckraking here and to my disgrace I will get into a little myself.
Apparently the two females are coincidentally friends and one had supposedly previously written an instruction manual on how to use false rape charges to destroy someone's reputation. There's reportedly a loophole that means no legal repercussions need be feared from a false accusation.
This being true would put the case on shaky legs, however the whole thing may just be a means to an end. It is suggested that once a criminal charge is filed it would then be possible for the US to request extradition -something that would not have been possible with the previous non-criminal charge of molestation.
This doesn't make any sense to me, but then legal turpitude rarely does.
How much of all this is "smearback" I don't know, but clearly something is rotten in Sweden.
Hi, knowing one of the accusers wrote a book on framing men, is super pertinent information. Do you have their names and/or a link?
And yes, that they know each other, took 6 days to file charges and filed them together looks way too suspicious in my book.
http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir08272010.html
"a radical feminist Anna Ardin, 30, spokeswoman for Broderskapsrörelsen, the liberation theology-like Christian organization affiliated with Sweden's Social Democratic Party. "changing partners in so rapid a manner constituted a sort of deceit. And deceit is a sort of rape"
Revenge package:
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2010/08/strangest-blog-thread-yet-on-swedish.html
Thank you! I plan on posting this on the big sites I hang on so people can see who the accusers are and quit acting like this attack on Assange's character is anything but a smear.
Do you know if either of the women are U.S. citizens? I am baffled at how being accused of a crime outside the U.S. involving non-U.S. citizens could affect an extradition request by the U.S. for unrelated issues.
Are you high? The U.S. doesn't need "laws" to get what it wants. On the contrary, the U.S. makes a rather blatant point of violating or ignoring any and all laws it finds inconvenient, including its own.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
There was a piece that outlines the back story on this on Counterpunch last weekend. I found it very informative.
Assange was the first word in the lengthy title.
Counterpunch: "Assange: The Amazing Adventures of Captain Neo in Blonde Land" perhaps?
http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir08272010.html
I'm reading it now. Very odd.
Sanctuary, indeed. They are one and the same. I couldn't remember that title. Thank you. But i see others have found it anyway.
peace.
Given current US policy (ie: disposing of those it finds inconvenient) it would not surprise me in the least to discover one morning Mr. Assange has had a fatal accident...
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
"Accident" has been replaced by "suicide" in the script. Please update accordingly.
No, he won't be killed. Even the evil U.S. wouldn't want to make a martyr of him. No, he will be kidnapped and put in a U.S. prison on bullshit charges. Guaranteed. Just keep watching.
Wish Mr. Assange had the brains to go underground somewhere...but he remains rather exposed in the public eye. He doesn't seem to realize how easy it is to be whisked away in the black of night by the U.S.'s special forces or CIA....
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
Something smells in Denmark er ... I mean Sweden.
WikiLeaks -- MORE HARM THEN GOOD?
Our government’s War On Terror is primarily to keep our population apprehensive, insecure and in fearful submission to authority. Torture others so that we live in fear of being tortured, that sort of thing.
And so, what WikiLeaks has leaked so far has done nothing but help our government make us fearful.
WikiLeaks -- THEIR ACTIONS MAKE NO SENSE
When Assange was asked to explain his side of what happened with the two ladies in Sweden, he refused saying it would violate their right to privacy. But he has called both ladies liars, their actions have destroyed his reputation until this matter is cleared up, surely Assange is now his own worse enemy.
WikiLeaks released a memo by the CIA that is pure propaganda, brainwash that our rich ruling class would love for the whole world to read. All about citizens committing terrorism, all designed to take our minds off of state sponsored terrorism, surely the last thing that WikiLeaks should be feeding to the public.
"WikiLeaks released a memo by the CIA that is pure propaganda, brainwash that our rich ruling class would love for the whole world to read. All about citizens committing terrorism, all designed to take our minds off of state sponsored terrorism, surely the last thing that WikiLeaks should be feeding to the public."
The twisted logic is not only severely fallacious, it's leads one to question your sanity.
What is an FBI Provocateur?
Now that you have blown your cover,
what do you intend to do for an encore?
A, E, I, O, U, a donkey knows more than you
"I'm an FBI Provocateur?"
You really are nuts. I'm a systems admin in Seattle. I don't work for the Gov.
Yeah, but you know it's a slippery slope from systems admin to G-man! Oh no, you ain't fooling nobody!:)
That guy's rational is that Wikileaks is the government, and so me telling him that he's nuts for thinking Wikileaks is the government, makes me an "FBI Provocateur."
The guy is batshit crazy.
Strange times, no doubt. When you just can't trust anything or anyone, this kind of stuff is the result. And fertile ground for every charlatan with a story to sell.
BETTER THEN SEX GENTLEMEN
For an absolute, the greatest pleasure for women is to have deadly force power over men. Give them titles like “Chief Prosecutor… Director of Public Prosecution” or Supreme Court Justice, and it’s a high unequaled, greater then sex gentlemen, even greater then sex.
Thank you for proving you are utterly sexist. That brings your integrity to zero. I'll be sure to take every word you say with a grain of salt.
"For an absolute, the greatest pleasure for women is to have deadly force power over men. Give them titles like “Chief Prosecutor… Director of Public Prosecution” or Supreme Court Justice, and it’s a high unequaled, greater then sex gentlemen, even greater then sex.
Actually it holds true for men also, for the most common form of promiscuous sex has been committed by divorce court judges and lawyers, men of your educated middle-class sexually harassing laboring class women.
Sexist? Sexist!
You feminists posers are getting as abad as the zionists with their constant cries of anti-semitism.
I guess when you have no real rebuttal, slurs and name calling are the last refuge of the intellectually dishonest.
Sure I do, zionissts are a propaganda and policy created by politics using jewishness as an excuse to execute innocent people, not so unlike GW used christianess to declare war illegally. What are you made of, oh, like the rest of us....dirt (lower case intentional)
John_Ellis' post leaves little open to interpretation. It was clearly sexist, especially so since it referred to women as some kind of malicious other, "they", who are out to get us men once they get into positions of power. Who are you people?
Look a couple comments down where Ellis states that the will to power is in men and women. So there goes your point...pffft.
"Ellis states that the will to power is in men and women".
No, that was Nietzsche and his thesis was more well thought out.
Upon another review of Ellis's initial comment, it does contained sexist generalizations.
In his subsequebt comment, he applies those same generalizations to men.
My conclusion is that Ellis holds a very dim view of humanity and the sexist comments are a part of that.
Rebut what? He started the name calling. What is there to rebut in his statement?
I reviewed his comments but don't see any name calling.
"the greatest pleasure for women is to have deadly force power over men".
You don't actually have to call people names to insult them.
Just make ridiculous statements about half the population of the world - based on what? The diary of a Washington DC S&M Madame?
Name calling or not, if this is his definition of "pleasure" - he's got a problem. (Probably not enough sex with actual human beings!)
But if you're going to call a comment sexist, don't you think you should be clear as to why that is so?
Sloopy thinking and terminiology just aren't acceptable as support for accusations of bigotry.
Thank you Phi, Beta Kappa, now go back to your studies kid.
49% of women like to have deadly force power over men.
20% of women like to use their wiles to get what they want.
20% act as equal partners to men.
11% defer to men.
I pulled these categories and figures out of my .... imagination.
Joe
The new "information" that came in, was likely data relative to her new Swiss Bank account, funded by US taxpayers, via a CIA deposit.
Exactly.