re: #604 Obdicut

First of all, I’m not condemning the two women. I have pointed out blatant contradictions in what they have said PUBLICLY after the alleged sexual offenses.

I’m putting forward what we KNOW because the prosecution has told the public and the two women have told the public.

1) Both women had consensual sex with Assange. Both never said that it was not consensual.
2) The first one throws a party for him AFTER the alleged offense (“broken condom”) had taken place. She raves about being with the “coolest people of the world” publicly, on Twitter. After the prosecution started she makes big efforts to remove these jubilant messages but Google Cache and backup systems are cruel.
3) After the two women learn from each other, they consult (the prosecution has the SMS they exchange). They find out that both had unprotected sex.
4) They go to the police, not with the intention of filing charges but to seek advice as to how they could legally enforce Assange to take a HIV test. Before they go they even discuss by SMS whether they should inform the Swedish tabloid Expressen of what happened. One of them has even published a guide about “How to take revenge on your boyfriend”.
5) The interviewing police officer refers the matter to the duty Public Prosecutor. The prosecutor issued an arrest order for rape. Minutes later, Assange is labeled as a “rapist” by the international media.
6) The arrest order is squashed by one of Sweden’s most senior prosecutors, Eva Finn because the women’s stories didn’t justify the need to open an investigation against Assange.
7) A top Stockholm lawyer, Mr Claes Borgstrm, a staunch feminist, who was appointed to protect the legal interests of the plaintiffs, files an appeal.
8) Assange wants to leave Sweden, asks if he is free to go, says he’s available for questioning. Prosecution says: No questioning, you are free to go.
9) No new facts have come to light but months later, just when the cables are published, the arrest warrant is issued again, now for “sexual offenses”.
10) Despite Assange’s offers to be questioned in England by Swedish prosecutors (his wherabouts are known by British authorities) or via videoconference, the Swedish ask Interpol to issue a Red Alert.

Those are the facts we know. Can we draw any conclusions on that?
Of course we don’t know everything but there will hardly be a case when we do. We could still come to the conclusion that something is rotten in Sweden.

And if you read the Swedish press, they are highly critical of that case.

There’s a much discussed scientific study out there called “Felaktigt dmda
Rapport frn JK:s rttsskerhetsprojekt” (“Wrongful Convictions”) discussing egregious examples of miscarriages of justice in Sweden. The authors come to the conclusion that the Swedish system of dealing with sexual offense cases is deeply flawed.

One problem the report showed as well is that the interpretation of what constitutes a “sexual offenses” varied from court to court in rather spectacular ways, hence innocent men were convicted and real perpetrators of sex crimes acquitted.