Julian Assange appeals to Sweden's supreme court over arrest warrant

[Pharaoh]

Source: The Guardian

Julian Assange is taking his appeal to Sweden’s highest court in a final attempt to persuade a Swedish judge that the arrest warrant against him should be lifted.

His lawyers will ask Sweden’s supreme court on Wednesday to agree that the “severe limitations” on Assange’s freedoms since he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden are unreasonable and disproportionate to the case.

In August 2010, the WikiLeaks founder and campaigning journalist was accused by two women of rape and sexual molestation, but he has not been charged because the prosecutor insists she is unable to interview him about the allegations.

Prosecutor Marianne Ny has declined invitations by Assange to do so in London, where he has taken refuge in the embassy to avoid a perceived threat of extradition to the US for publishing military secrets. Assange denies all the charges.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/25/julian-assange-appeals-sweden-supreme-court-arrest-warrant

[Pharaoh]

1. Edited to add

Fuck Sweden!

[24601]

2. Yes, have a good time there, but only in compliance with Sweden's fucking laws. Make sure you first

understand what rights women (and men) have there and comply if you are going to participate. He's just lucky he's not an athlete or DU members would have thrown him under the double-decker bus.

[candelista]

16. Nonsense.

Meaningless cant.

[snooper2]

3. Hey, Sweden isn't keeping him from making more awesome music!

One thing I never figured out is WTF is up with towel dude

1:35 in the video

[geek tragedy]

8. So your entire view of a country depends on whether their government

is willing to let Assange get away with sexual assault.

[candelista]

17. What assault?

Retract your baseless allegation.

[geek tragedy]

18. you may want to consult a dictionary before using words like 'baseless' nt

[candelista]

23. Don't patronize me. If it's not baseless, what is your basis?

Don't lie.

[geek tragedy]

24. the same as every sexual assault case--the account of the victim. nt

[brooklynite]

4. "the “severe limitations” on Assange’s freedoms since he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.."

"are unreasonable and disproportionate to the case. "

There's a very easy solution to the limitations on Assange's freedoms; all he had to do is walk out of the Embassy building and fly to Sweden.

[Pharaoh]

5. And immediately whisked off

To some black site somewhere to be tortured by the good old US of A

[brooklynite]

10. Let's review US policy on leakers...

Chelsea (Bradley) Manning was indicted by the US

Edward Snowden was indicted by the US

Julian Assange wasn't indicted; instead, the US decided to cobble together a fake sexual assault charge to get him extradited to Sweden, where he'd be nabbed and turned over to the US by a complicit Swedish Government.

Seems consistent to me...

[Paulie]

11. The first two are US citizens

Assange is not.

[24601]

42. I've seen no evidence that President Obama and Attorney General holder have done this. If you have

any real proof, please share it with the rest of us.

[brooklynite]

43. I don't tend to use \sarc\ tags when I think it's obvious...

[hack89]

12. So we allowed him to walk around England for two years untouched

but now, even with a bright media spotlight, we will kidnap him from the Swedish authorities? Got it.

[candelista]

19. You''d like that, wouldn't you?

You've swallowed all the Kool-Aid on this issue.

[brooklynite]

33. Actually, I've swallowed Occam's Razor...

Two choices:

The Swedish Government believes a crime may have been committed by Mr. Assange and wants him extradited

The Swedish Government, despite having had no involvement with our recent foreign policy and no particular interest in our national security issues has agreed to join a conspiracy involving trumping up fake charges against Mr. Assange for the the purpose of extraditing him to Sweden where he can be secretly handed over to the US Government (that would be the Obama Administration) and the US Government has apparently decided this is a more rational decision than having had the UK Government extradite him to the US previously, despite a very close relationship with our foreign policy and national security issues.

[candelista]

36. Be careful it doesn't cut you goin down.

There are other criteria for theoretical plausibility besides simplicity.

[brooklynite]

39. Feel free to provide them...

...particularly why the Social Democrat/Green Party coalition governing Sweden is involved.

[cemaphonic]

46. Yeah, his "severe limitations" are 100% self-inflicted.

This is why I could never be a lawyer. There is no way I could make that argument while keeping a straight face.

[hack89]

6. Considering he choose those limitations

I am not sure what his beef is. What did he expect when he walked into the embassy - a direct flight to some beach in Ecuador?

[candelista]

20. He "chose" these limitations?

Bwahahah!

[hack89]

25. He voluntarily went into the embassy.

so he must have known what he was getting into.

He is fugitive from justice. He has no say as what limitations are put on his travel as long as they are legal. Surely you are not arguing that he has the legal right to walk out of that embassy with no risk of arrest?

[candelista]

27. That's a grotesque distortion of the use of the word, "voluntary."

Congrats, you have twisted the language to make a political point.

[hack89]

29. He is a fugitive from justice.

I know it was not his first choice but he did have choices. It was the one he choose. Criminals don't get to complain about hardships that they create for themselves while breaking the law.

[candelista]

37. When the robber says, "Your money or your life!" he gives you a choice.

But it would be a misuse of language to say that you handed over your wallet voluntarily.

[hack89]

44. Except Assange is not the victim here. nt

[candelista]

52. Ipse dixit. nt

[hack89]

53. No. The legal systems of both Sweden and England say it is so

he is a fugitive from justice with a valid arrest warrant in his name. He is a criminal by definition. Criminals aren't victims.

[struggle4progress]

68. ... "Julian Assange has been kept under house arrest for two years with no medical treatment,

no sunshine, no family, no nothing, and this harm should be taken into account when applying Swedish law," Per Samuelsson, a lawyer for Assange in Stockholm, told the Guardian ...
Julian Assange lawyers lodge appeal against Swedish ruling


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not leave the Ecuador embassy in London until it is guaranteed he will avoid extradition to the United States, his lawyer said Tuesday ...
Assange will not leave until assured no US extradition
18 AUG 2014 - 6:46 PM UPDATED 19 AUG 2014 - 11:40 AM


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent over two years in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid a sex crimes inquiry in Sweden, said on Monday he planned to leave the building "soon" ...
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to Leave London Embassy 'Soon'
BY REUTERS 8/18/14 AT 5:32 AM
By Tom Whitehead
2:27PM BST 17 Jun 2013


Julian Assange will not leave Ecuador's embassy even if Sweden drops its extradition bid over accusations of sexual assault, because he fears moves are already underway by the US to prosecute him ...
Assange will not leave Ecuador embassy even if Sweden drops extradition bid
Esther Addley
Tuesday 18 June 2013 16.16 EDT


... " ... He said he was strong enough to stay in our embassy for at least five years ... I hope Mr Assange will not grow old and die in our embassy ... " ...
Assange prepared to stay in embassy for five years
By Tom Whitehead
2:27PM BST 17 Jun 2013

[struggle4progress]

72. “It’s possible that I’m condemned to death,” Assange told during the interview

Sputnik International
18:44 02.03.2015 (updated 20:14 02.03.2015)

[LanternWaste]

69. It's often necessary to conflate "voluntary" and "coerce" to better validate one's POV.

It's often necessary to conflate "voluntary" and "coerce" to better validate one's POV. Not so much twisting the language, as simply looking for what best suits one's biases.

Though the user may often self-define it as clever, it's a dead-giveaway that a disingenuous point (or even premise) is being made...

[candelista]

71. How is that different from "twisting"?

You are making a distinction without a difference.

[christx30]

41. Similar to someone who,

to escape arrest, runs to Mexico, and then complains about the water quality.

[elias49]

7. Kick

[Sheldon Cooper]

9. Poor poor Julian.

Hoist by your own peter.

[candelista]

38. Yes, he let his penis do his thinking for him.

Guilty as charged on that one. He got conned by the oldest trick in the book.

[joshcryer]

13. Will the self admitted rapist turn himself in...

...when this idiotic argument gets shot down?

[candelista]

21. Self-admitted rapist?

Where is your source for this?

[msanthrope]

31. Mr. Assange's attorneys. His legal argument against extradition

was not that he did not do the acts described in the arrest warrant.

His legal argument was that the acts recounted in the arrest warrant were not crimes in the UK, only Sweden.

That argument lost.....

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/20110224-Britain-Ruling-Assange-Extradition-to-Sweden.pdf

[reorg]

63. neither his attorneys nor Mr Assange himself 'admitted'

the acts recounted in the arrest warrant, and it is indeed a fact that nobody has ever been convicted of rape due to not using a condom, as you very well know.

[msanthrope]

66. Utter nonsense. Attacking a sleeping woman, unable to give consent, is rape. nt

[reorg]

67. LOL, neither Mr Assange nor his attorneys 'admitted'

that he 'was attacking a sleeping woman', nor did the woman in question claim that he did, BTW, as you very well know.

The legal argument of his lawyers had nothing to do with 'admitting' anything, they simply argued that any act as described in the witness testimony, regardless of its veracity, would not have led to prosecution in the UK, and in fact never did, as you very well know.

Stating that Assange or his lawyers have 'admitted' any such act is a lie, and you know it.

[Nye Bevan]

14. If the US wanted him, why did they not extradite him when he was in UK custody?

Why would Sweden, but not the UK, hand him over to the US?

It just seems like a rapist is attempting to distract people from his crimes.

[msanthrope]

15. It's like the guy who murders his parents and throws himself

on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan....

Problems entirely of his own making.

[candelista]

22. Can't you find a less stale simile?

Or are you simile-challenged?

[gcomeau]

28. If your biggest complaint about said simile...

...is that it lacks originality that really says it all doesn't it?

[candelista]

26. It's amazing what a bunch of self-styled liberals can come up with....

....to defame someone who has exposed the government that seeks to destroy liberal values, such as freedom of speech and inquiry.

[msanthrope]

30. Rape is not a liberal value. nt

[Nye Bevan]

34. I see you're posting all over this thread,

but you are not replying to any of the posts asking why the US did not simply extradite him from the UK when they had every opportunity to do so. Why is that?

[elias49]

50. Because he's not guilty?? nt

[brooklynite]

55. He COULD be innocent, but he's definitely not "not guilty"

...because guilt is determined by the Judicial process, which he has resisted facing.

[candelista]

70. The word "guilt" is not the property of lawyers and judges.

It belongs to our ordinary English language that we learn at our mother's knee. Stop twisting words to make a silly point.

[EX500rider]

58. It's amazing what a bunch of self-styled liberals can come up with....

...to defend someone accused of sex crimes.

[Agnosticsherbet]

32. So if he looses his court case, will he turn himself in and face of jury of his peers?

[candelista]

35. I must be dreaming.

I logged in to DU, and somehow landed at Free Republic!

[brooklynite]

40. you mean, because of the disrespect for women?

[candelista]

45. No, because of the servile acceptance of state sponsored hatred of whistle blowers.

Of course you have a b.s. feminist cover.

[brooklynite]

47. So, when a sexual assault charge is lodged, always questions the prosecutor's political motives...

...just to be safe.

[Pharaoh]

48. I too am dissapointed

Last edited Sat Feb 28, 2015, 07:22 PM - Edit history (2)

Assange was a real reporter and these knuckldraggers are buying into all this trumped up shit.

[hack89]

54. So the women lied about rape? Nice blame the victim there. Nt

[struggle4progress]

49. Honorable Justices of the Court, I wish to detail the cruel and unjust treatment

of my client, since he left Sweden several years ago to escape prosecution for allegedly having sex with an unconscious woman.

First, your Honors, the law itself is contradictory and makes no sense. A woman who is unconscious cannot refuse sexual consent, because she is unconscious; and for this reason, because consent was not refused, we must assume that consent was implicitly granted. Therefore the very possibility of prosecution is logically incoherent, showing that the law here can only be applied in an arbitrary and unjust manner.

Second, your Honors, the witness is obviously unreliable, and for this reason no prosecution is possible. Obviously no one can recall having sex while unconscious, and therefore the witness's complaint is so bizarre that it could not possibly be accepted in any court. The complainant, in fact, should be prosecuted for perjury! Moreover, my client is such a wondrous and studly lover that no one could possibly remain asleep while having sexual congress with him, which is further evidence that the complainant is untruthful.

Third, your Honors, the witness is a woman of bad character and therefore cannot be believed. Indeed, what sort of woman would have casual sex with a man like my client, a bizarre paranoid fugitive who flees from place to place and seldom showers? Res ipsa loquitur.

Fourth, your Honors, the Swedish criminal justice system has no jurisdiction over my client, as he has been resident in the UK for many years now. And under the laws of the UK, it is not illegal to boink pretty girls in Sweden. And in fact, even under the laws of Sweden, it is not illegal to boink pretty girls in Sweden. I very much hope that you will begin to see what a glorious muck-up this whole sad story is becoming.

Fifth, your Honors, the Swedish empire has misused its international influence to hound and persecute my hapless client for too long, first driving him from your frozen wasteland to the shores of the British Isles, and thence into a tiny far-flung outpost of Ecuador, with the ultimate aim of forcing him to Cuba where he might be mashed into a pulp or his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken and his kneecaps split and his body burned away and his limbs all hacked and mangled. Let us not assassinate this lad further, your Honors. Sweden has done enough. Has Sweden no sense of decency, your Honors? At long last, has Sweden no sense of decency?

[elias49]

51. Here, for your reading pleasure...

http://thestandard.org.nz/marianne-ny-making-an-arse-of-swedish-law/

http://rixstep.com/1/20120802,00.shtml

[struggle4progress]

56. The Swedish authorities, in seeking extradition, indicated an allegation was rape,

and the UK magistrate, in agreeing that rape was an allegation, noted that the accusations included sex with an unconscious person

[elias49]

57. Pretty messed up...it wasn't rape until it was.

I call it a honey trap.
Fortunately, Edward Snowden didn't get trapped like Assange.

[hack89]

59. Here are the four charges against Assange - you tell us if you think it is rape or not.

After proceedings in the courts of Sweden, including a hearing before the Court of Appeal of Svea on 24 November 20 I0, at which Mr Assange was represented and to which we refer in more detail at paragraph 51, a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued on 26 November 2010 by the Swedish Prosecution Authority (the Prosecutor), the Respondent to this appeal. It was signed by Marianne N y, a prosecutor. The warrant stated that:

"This warrant has been issued by a competent authority. I request the person mentioned below be arrested and surrendered for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution or executing a custodial sentence or detention order".

It set out four offences:

"1. Unlawful coercion

On 13-14 August 2010, in the home of the injured party [AA] in Stockholm. Assange, by using violence. forced the injured party to endure his restricting her freedom of movement. The violence consisted in a firm hold of the injured party's arms and a forceful spreading of her legs whilst lying on top of her and with his body weight preventing her from moving or shifting.

2. Sexual molestation

On 13-14 August 2010, in the home of the injured party [AA] in Stockholm, Assange deliberately molested the injured party by acting in a manner designed to violate her sexual integrity. Assange, who was aware that it was the expressed wish of the injured party and a prerequisite of sexual intercourse that a condom be used, consummated unprotected sexual intercourse with her without her knowledge.

3. Sexual molestation

On 18 August 2010 or on any of the days before or after that date, in the home of the injured party [AA] in Stockholm, Assange deliberately molested the injured party by acting in a manner designed to violate her sexual integrity i.e. lying next to her and pressing his naked, erect penis to her body.

4. Rape

On 17 August 2010, in the home of the injured party [SW] in Enkoping, Assange deliberately consummated sexual intercourse with her by improperly exploiting that she, due to sleep. was in a helpless state.

It is an aggravating circumstance that Assange. who was aware that it was the expressed wish of the injured party and a prerequisite of sexual intercourse that a condom be used. still consummated unprotected sexual intercourse with her. The sexual act was designed to violate the injured party's sexual integrity."

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/2849.html

[elias49]

60. Please refer to post #51 nt

[hack89]

62. What a shock - Assange's lawyers want to minimize the crime

There is a big gap between your links and the charges on his arrest warrant. I think I am going with the Swedish legal system.

On two separate occasion British courts ruled that the charge against Assange would also constitute rape in England. Think about that for a second

[elias49]

64. You do that...go with the Swedish legal system

as outlined here:

http://rixstep.com/1/20140406,00.shtml

Sounds like a broken system.

[hack89]

65. I would rather get my facts from his trial transcript in London

it is amazing how the stories change when people are under oath.

Did you know, for example, that under oath Assange's lawyer admitted that he was notified by Ny that she wanted to interview Assange while he was in Sweden. Within days Assange fled to London.

[treestar]

73. LOL

[Blue_Tires]

74. The “severe limitations on Assange’s freedoms" are self-imposed...

He's spent more time fighting this than he would have done had he just agreed to a plea deal...