LibriumArcana.Games

NYT

[quote] Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was released from a British jail late last week, is facing a new challenge: the leak of a 68-page confidential Swedish police report that sheds new light on the allegations of sexual misconduct that led to Mr. Assange’s legal troubles.

The Swedish report traces events over a four-day period in August when Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, had what he has described as consensual sexual relationships with two Swedish women. Their accounts, which form the basis of an extradition case against Mr. Assange, state that their encounters with him began consensually, but became nonconsensual when he persisted in having unprotected sex with them in defiance of their insistence that he use a condom.

The case has prompted widespread controversy, with supporters of Mr. Assange alleging that he is the victim, and the women are complicit, in an American-inspired vendetta seeking to punish WikiLeaks for posting hundreds of thousands of secret American documents on the Internet.

The conspiracy, supporters of Mr. Assange have said, hinges on what they have described as an improbable coincidence: that he is facing potential criminal charges in a sex case just as he is challenging the United States government. These critics have also pointed to possible political manipulation of the Swedish prosecutor’s office, which had dropped the most serious allegations against Mr. Assange, but later revived them, listing the allegations that prosecutors wished to question him on as “rape, sexual molestation and forceful coercion.â€

When I was first charged, one of the things my lawyer told me is there is absolutely nothing to be gained from talking to the media; it can't really help you (the cops aren't going to drop a charge against a suspect just because that suspect tells the reporters what a load of shit it is) and it can actually hurt (if you need me to tell you how powerful the media is at influencing public perception and editing your words out of context, I don't think I can help you ). It actually seems incongruous, doesn't it? Counter-intuitive. If you're innocent, shouldn't you be screaming from the hills telling everyone that? Except that if you do, you push the wrong image to people. The more desperate you are, the more it comes off as though you would literally say anything to escape conviction - even lie.

I'm getting that vibe off of Assange right now with all his talk about international conspiracies and stuff about there being no evidence etc. I mean, rape allegations are tricky beasts to handle from a legal standpoint, especially since most will be of the he-said/she-said variety. But the ladies in this case are not the ones on trial, Assange is. Unfortunately, I don't know if a case such as this can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. One of the things that strikes me as complete bullshit is the idea that there is unjustified pressure to pursue this prosecution due to politics. I think it's completely justified to pursue this prosecution and it doesn't require politics at all. As the article states, in order to request an extradition Sweden's highest court had to sign off on it; the idea that such an institution can be corrupted by (who, CIA agents?) outside influence strikes me as conspiracy bullshit. And also, just because the initial prosecutor dropped it doesn't mean there is anything fishy going on because the chief prosecutor decided to reinstate the charge - that's precisely why you have chief prosecutors, who are going to have more experience than more junior officers, sometimes the seniors see things which the juniors miss.

So while I am not sure this case has met the standards of proof I would be comfortable with regarding a conviction, especially considering I'm not privy to any of it other than what the media has reported on, some of the things his supporters have said strike me as irrational and risk damaging his credibility. If Julian Assange had a brain he'd keep his mouth shut. I'd hate to see an innocent man get convicted of rape, but I'd also hate to see a guilty one go free.

Much as I support Wikileaks as a project, I have to agree with Stofsk here. Indeed, insofar as there is pressure here politically, I suspect it's more an issue of the Martha Stewart Effect. In this case, the Sweedes may be pushing this case specifically to avoid the perception that they let Assange off due to his notoriety. This could also explain why the original prosecutor dropped the case and the senior one picked it up.

This, however, is all unfounded speculation on my part. We will see what transpires.