Sweden drops warrant for WikiLeaks founder
Published: 21 Aug 10 17:25 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/28504/20100821/
The warrant for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been withdrawn, the Swedish Prosecution Authority has confirmed.
- WikiLeaks founder suspected of rape (21 Aug 10)
The statement was issued at 4.30pm on Saturday to confirm that Assange was no longer a suspect and is thus no longer required to contact the police.
"She (Eva Finné) has adjudged that he is not suspected of rape. There is thus no reason to retain a warrant for his arrest," Karin Rosander at the Prosecution Authority confirmed.
The Expressen daily had reported on Saturday morning that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Julian Assange in connection with alleged incidents in Stockholm and Enköping.
A source close to the case told the newspaper that two women in their twenties went to the police in Stockholm on Friday to speak about their recent encounters with Assange.
The Prosecution Authority released a statement on Saturday morning in which it revealed that the warrant was based on “one report of rape and one report of molestation. A warrant has been issued for the person's arrest since there is a risk that he could hamper the investigation.”
Kristinn Hrafnsson, a colleague of Assange's who spoke to news agency AFP from Iceland earlier on Saturday, rejected the charges against Assange as a fabrication, but confirmed that Assange remained in Sweden and planned to turn himself in.
There has been widespread speculation in social media on Saturday that the allegations were completely unfounded and had an ulterior motive, an accusation that WikiLeaks, and comments attributed to them on Twitter, have also helped to forward.
"He didn't know of the charges until he read them in the right wing tabloid Expressen this morning", Hrafnsson said. "There are powerful organisations who want to do harm to WikiLeaks."
The WikiLeaks founder has also personally denied the accusations in an email to Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter.
“Why these accusations are coming at this point in time is an interesting question. I haven't been contacted by the police. The allegations are false,” Julian Assange said.
Assange has spent time in Sweden over the last week as a guest of the Association of Christian Social Democrats. WikiLeaks chose to move its servers from the United States to Sweden in 2007 as Assange believed the site would benefit from Swedish laws protecting journalists' sources.
The pentagon recently called on WikiLeaks to halt the publication of 70,000 leaked classified documents from the US-led war in Afghanistan. But Assange instead vowed to press ahead with the publication of a further 15,000 secret documents.
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So why was a warrant issued in the first place ?
Why have the police not arrested these two women for wasting police time?
What the hell is going on ?
This kind of story in the media right now? No wonder. I'm waiting for the next story that he is eating little children, spilling oil, doing tax fraud and all that while being a moslem terrorist and the mastermind behind 9/11...
Ghandi said: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Wikileaks seems to be past the ignoring and laughing stages now....
Well said!
In Sweden the best way to defame any man is a rape accusation. The police will believe any woman, and the man is guilty unless showing an alibi. The usual paradigm of "innocent before proven guilty" doesn't apply.
When I read Expressen this morning I could only believe the whole accusation was a set-up. I'm relieved to hear it's over, hopefully!
What did the DoD say? If you don't take the documents back we will force you to do it...
This is true in many countries but yes, a rape charge is especially damning in Sweden and prosecutors can be over-zealous when investigating any crime.
Here is what I believe happened, based on the very sketchy facts:
One or more persons alleged Julian Assange committed acts of rape and molestation.
The prosecutor's staff played "better safe than sorry" and issued an arrest warrant without carefully examining the evidence. Whether they did this because of Julian Assange's international fame or despite it, I can't say, since I can't read the minds of the prosecuting lawyers. But they were afraid that Assange would flee the country and wanted to at least have him in custody in case the charges proved to have substantial facts behind them.
Chief prosecutor Eva Finné examined the evidence and found there wasn't enough to even arrest Mr. Assange, which means they've got nothing. The evidence required to issue an arrest warrant is not the same as the evidence to convict, so the matter was clearly nothing.
The question is, who was behind this? Is it a right-wing plot to discredit the founder of WikiLeaks, or perhaps a way to hold Mr. Assange in jail so that an "accident" can happen to him while there? Or just some mentally or emotionally disturbed person who has no connection to any organisation?
At this point, we have only the barest facts, but I cannot imagine there will not be an investigation into this.
If I were Mr. Assange, I'd be very cautious about everything: where he resides, his modes of transport, and so forth. I don't know if there is a plot against his life, but at this point, "better safe than sorry".
You have hit this nail squarely on the head with your comment.
They were most likely assisted by Massaud, who are as excellent at this type of work as they are at extirpating "rendered" people in hotel rooms.
The United States will do anything to try to stop him from revealing more of the truth of their Sonderkommando's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, et al. He had best get those 15,000s of documents out into the open soon.
He should also be advised to hire a body-guard, and to never attempt to start his unattended auto, or to ever return to the U.S.
U.S. citizens living abroad do not have the protection of the
Constitution, such as what is left of that Document after cheneybush.
By catching the tiger - that is the multi billion (trillion?) dollar military machine - by the tail, I think the poor guy has set himself up to become a martyr or a nasty accident.
Keep in mind we already know that the US can force Sweden to do illegal things. Heck, the movie and music companies forced Sweden to go (illegally) after thepiratebay, I am pretty f***ng sure the US govt/military has more clout than them.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out though, because the US cannot just do something when all eyes are on him. Perhaps this rape thing was a test to see how people would react?
Right now I'm guessing they are trying to see the balance of what they can do to him without a direct worldwide backlash.
Land of the free? true, but only for a select few.
(And for the record, I am NOT a "US basher" nor have anything against the US, loved my vacation there. The people are absolutely lovely, its the govt that leaves quite a bit to be desired.)
The best thing would be for all of the files to be leaked and posted on the internet. I'm sure Mr. Assange would agree.
Most likley one of two situations have taken place. 1) The accused was drunk on his newly aquired fame and percieved power over people and has actually commited the offense. 2) The women are indeed bar sluts looking to aquire their own fame and fortune. Some simple detective work should sort it out. It really is as simple as that.
Now carry on bashing the U.S. as is the norm on this forum.
Two Social Democratic election candidates from central Sweden were caught by police having sex with prostitutes....
http://www.thelocal.se/28452/20100819/
That's kind of an ironic thing to ask for, isn't it. Many people say that because WikiLeaks doesn't name their sources, their website could potentially be used for defamation by publishing false documents.
You are speculating just like everyone else in this thread. The only difference is you don't accept the possibility of some foreign power at play. Which means you are just as clueless as the others, me included.
1. The prosecutors determined the accusations were baseless and the evidence supporting a rape was inadequate. Assange probably had damn good alibi. After all, if I were to attend a foreign conference I'd have myself surrounded by people all the time. So your first speculation won't hold. Innocent until proven guilty, remember?
2. So far the women's name never showed up anywhere. Fame? Hardly any. This is the election year. Going after Littorin or some Social Democratic candidates stirs up much more local concern than accusing Assange, who's basically a visitor. Talking about fortune, who's providing them with fortune then? Their American employers?
Another interesting thing is how quickly Expressen reported the news. The police report was made and the first warrant issued Friday evening. By Saturday morning, the news was on the frontpage of Expressen on the shelves. Apparently Expressen gained inside-information. The news was published to hurt, intentionally or not. Interestingly, Expressen stated that these two women knew each other. What's more, later that day, Aftonbladet, another Swedish newspaper wrote that one of the women spoke out, saying specifically that Pentagon wasn't behind this. Smells fishy to me.
You don't see the hypocrisy though?
You have confused a news report (where sources are protected) with criminal-charges (where the sources/claimants/victims aren't protected unless they are put into witness protection etc...). In a criminal-charge, the accused has the right to find out who the accuser is.
Just read Expressen, they continue making a point about this:
Why does an innocent man not go to the police immediately?
Now, its not difficult to imangine that mr. Assange may have been thinking that wat if USA would have requested extradition immediately when they have gotten him in a police station..
http://tinyurl.com/28n4ec7
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article7655734.ab
But people want to find out the names of the women because they think this is defamation, not because of whether Assange will be convicted. If Assange is convicted he'll be convicted on the facts. But defamation is defamation, whether its in a police report or in a newspaper. Also, would it have been different if these women, instead of going to the police, went to a local reporter? If that happened, would you be uninterested in finding their names?
You need to throw up a lot of smoke to rationalize the difference, imo
If and I say IF a man should actually be proven to have committed a rape....his time is what? Like 2 years? Defame his character? For goodness sake, rape is not a problem in this country....any man can do it and get away with it....in fact they usually do!
And molestation? They think that now he ONLY molested them? Oh, well, that's not even a crime...is there a warrant out for him on that? no? So, in other words, molestation in Sweden is quite alright.
Stop bugging Sebastian_R, the statement came from me.
Sweden is ranked pretty high when it comes to the occurrence of reported rape per capita. Whether it's a social, cultural or political problem remains to be discussed. However, I'd say for a man, the number of years in prison doesn't matter as much as the conviction itself. Apparently few mentally healthy women enjoy the company of rapists. For famous guys like Littorin, as soon as the accusation has been put on the table, he will lose everything. Any woman can do it and get away with it. There was one case when a woman accused her sambo for over 500 rape and/or rape attempts during 2 yrs. He'd be incredibly hung if it were true. 200 of them were impossible since he served in the army during the time. He was convicted on the alleged 300 occasions. If a woman scratched my neck with her fingers when we were alone and ran away to the police, she can show them the scar on my neck and my DNA under her nails and I'd be in a shitload of hell.
In Sweden do you have a sex offender registry like exists in the US?
If the U.S. military were in fact behind this, wouldn't the tactic of setting up an obviously false accusation against Assange backfire by making him appear even more legitimate in the eyes of the public?
Or is it a call of duty for all true sisters to drop their support of him?
I, along with most others it seems, beleive that this was a US based plot. Why? becasue Assange has annoyed the US military.
No other organization is right now angry at Assange. this is a very easy connection to make. Is it true? Don't know.
Assange has certainly annoyed the US military, but as of now his leaks have not substantially altered the policy debate like Assange believed it would. The reaction from most of the press to the Afghan war leaks was that it was just more of what we already knew.
So its hard to say if the military views him as something more than a fly.