Sweden Reopens WikiLeaks Founder Rape Probe

Source: Reuters

Sweden reopens WikiLeaks founder rape probe

STOCKHOLM | Wed Sep 1, 2010 5:35am EDT
(Reuters) - Sweden's Chief Prosecutor said on Wednesday she was reopening a preliminary investigation into rape charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement the decision to reopen the probe was taken after further review of the case. Prosecutors last month dropped a probe into alleged rape, but carried on investigating charges of molestation.

Assange denies any wrongdoing and said last month he had been warned by Australian intelligence of plans to discredit the whistle-blower website.

WikiLeaks last month published more than 70,000 secret military files on Afghanistan in what U.S. officials have called one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. military history.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68026A20100901

Something happened from that interview?

will try to find it.

very very curious to see how this plays out.

assange is not young -- how has this never been a part of his profile before?

it's a fascinating story right now.

¬snip¬
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.


¬snip¬

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.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7181072.html

like a government intelligence agency would give info to the owner of WikiLeaks.

Ok, it's possible, but I doubt it.

:hi:

... not the other way around, like we are expected to in this country.

It really speaks volumes about the devolution of our country, when we're fully expectant for our government agencies, esp. the "intelligence" community, to be proactively working against our interests as citizens.

that is why he keeps his "activity" isolated to countries like the us, who you know, won't kill him and his friends and dump them at sea..

A senior Swedish prosecutor has ordered the reopening of a rape investigation into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Public Prosecutions Director Marianne Ny said there was "reason to believe a crime has been committed" and the crime was classified as rape.

Last week prosecutors cancelled an arrest warrant for Mr Assange on accusations of rape and molestation, saying he was no longer suspected.

Mr Assange denies any wrongdoing saying the accusations are "without basis".

Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11151277

Well, I suppose if you start pissing off the various governments around you they're going to respond in any way they can.

Q3JR4.

...that the Swedish goverment is utterly indifferent to Assange. Particulary as both they and the opposition is busy with the elections in 2½ weeks. The only ones remotely intrested would likely be the Pirate Party since the Assange case is their only hope of being seen and heard in the coming weeks.

about the major contenders being indifferent to this during the run-up to the elections. The Social Democrats are the biggest party and (together with their prospective coalition partner) leading in the polls.

Their "spokesperson on gender equality issues" is the lawyer of the women who very loudly and publicly asked for the investiation into the "rape" charge to be reopened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claes_Borgstr%C3%B6m

The Pirate Party has tried its best to stay out of this altogether.

The Social democrats and their green and communist allies have been trailing in the polls for the last week and the social democrats are not even the largest party according to the polls. Borgström is hardly acting in any party capacity in this matter, particulary as a distraction like this is hardly beneficial for the social democrats.

Even more reason, perhaps, to demonstrate how determined they are to uphold law and order and the honor of Sweden's female population.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_general_election,_2010

They may be trailing behind one or two points currently, call them the second biggest party, who cares. They have certainly a very long history in government and are always the major contender for the big government posts.

Borgström, who is currently spokesperson for gender issues for the Social Democrats held a similar position for the government, Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, until a few years ago. As such he was known for such inane activities as calling for a boycott of the soccer world championship in Germany in 2006 ... to make a point against prostitution, which is legal there, as opposed to Sweden where his party has made it illegal ...

He is quite obviously a loudmouth promoting any and all "feminist" issues and at the same time the actual and most prominent spokesperson of his party for such issues. Three weeks before the election he takes on a case that promises to get him into the headlines, associated with the word "rape" - why do you think he did it? Is he intent to lose?

The original complaint consisted of two cases:

1. The condom broke.

Anna Ardin, 31, party worker for the "Christian Brotherhood" within the Social Democrats helped organize a seminar on Wikileaks. She allowed Assange to stay a few days before the event in her one-bedroom flat while she was away. When she came home early, she decided to share the bed and have sex with him. During sexual intercourse, the condom broke. She alleges Assange is responsible for this. This allegation does have sexual connotations, but legally, it is an accusation of "ofredande" / molestation: reckless behavior - because of the health implications.

2. No condom during morning sex

Sofia Wilén, 26, is a photographer who fancied Assange. She had approached him during the event and, apparently, she quickly managed to get his attention. They flirted, went out together, she invited him home, they had consensual sex. The allegation is that although she made it clear in the evening before that she won't have sex without a condom, no condom was used during sex in the morning. It is not clear from the published content of the police protocol if and how she objected to this during the event - after the unprotected sex in the morning they were still friendly, she went out to buy breakfast for him, paid his trainfare, they parted amicably.

The first, on-call prosecutor decided to issue an arrest warrant for "rape" (referring to case 2.) based on a phone call by the police who were still in the process of interviewing the two women. She also confirmed the arrest warrant and the name to a tabloid that somehow had gotten wind of that story.

One day later, another prosecutor, Eva Linné, dismissed the charges relating to case 2. entirely, but decided to continue the investigation regarding case 1. and to interview Assange about it.

The two women are represented by a high profile lawyer, Claes Borgström (according to Wikipedia he is the Swedish Social Democratic Party's spokesperson on gender equality issues). He immediately called for case 2. to be reinvestigated as "rape" and has apparently suceeded now with the next prosecutor, Marianne Ny, (apparently ranked higher up than Linné) who is now in charge of the investigation.

"ofredande" / molestation: reckless behavior - because of the health implications.

And the next woman:
...They flirted, went out together, she invited him home, they had consensual sex. The allegation is that although she made it clear in the evening before that she won't have sex without a condom, no condom was used during sex in the morning.

If you are a man, do not have sex in Sweden without a written and signed pre-sex agreement and an iron condom...

A written pre-sex agreement would not be enough, since a woman has the right to change her mind and say no at any point in time, regardless of prior commitments. Even if she remains silent instead of objecting - it is not legal to take her silence as consent. The idea is to renegotiate the terms of your sex-contract at every turn of the way by seeking verbal consent for each individual action you take.

One interesting problem that is still being debated in certain circles (at Ms Ardin's blog, for instance, just a few months ago - as internet detectives found out using the Google cache) is if and how you can get back at someone who denies that he intended to disregard the woman's lack of enthusiasm?

From what I read, in Sweden intent must be proven if you accuse someone of rape. So, additional legal measures need to be taken, it seems, to deal with this problem. Perhaps an additional clause on "unvoluntary rape" through reckless disregard for a partner's inner feelings. It may serve as a reminder to those of us who never realized they may actually be rapists or have been raped!

I had no idea this could be so complicated. Thanks

DON'T have sex with strangers. Hell, I'd get married or buy one of those Japanese virtual girlfriends.

And who has one night stands without condoms? Bad form.

If true, I envy him. No child support yet, no horrible disease as far as we know. I would like him to accompany me to Vegas.

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2010/08/strangest-blog-thread-yet-on-swedish.html

They took snip-its of Ardin's blog at the link above.

:grr:

This has nothing to do with womens lib, that's for sure.

Assange needs to keep his dick in his pants because he's probably got throes of female agents hoping to get him in the same trap that Sofia Wilen' did (assuming that's her real name).

J

OMG! I guess that makes me a serial rapist then by Swedish standards... :wow:

due to having committed the same crimes. Maybe the world would be a better place if I were in prison, who knows!

Look at the Counterpunch article on her:

http://counterpunch.org/shamir08272010.html

"The complaint was lodged by a radical feminist Anna Ardin, 30, a one-time intern in the Swedish Foreign Service. She’s spokeswoman for Broderskapsrörelsen, the liberation theology-like Christian organization affiliated with Sweden's Social Democratic Party. She had invited Julian Assange to a crayfish party, and they had enjoyed some quality time together. When Ardin discovered that Julian shared a similar experience with a 20-year-old woman a day or two later, she obtained the younger woman’s cooperation in declaring before the police that changing partners in so rapid a manner constituted a sort of deceit. And deceit is a sort of rape. The prosecutor immediately issued an arrest warrant, and the press was duly notified. Once the facts were examined in the cold light of day, the charge of rape seemed ludicrous and was immediately dropped. In the meantime the younger woman, perhaps realizing how she had been used, withdrew her report, leaving the vengeful Anna Ardin standing alone.

Ardin has written and published on her blog a “revenge instruction”, describing how to commit a complete character assassination to legally destroy a person who “should be punished for what he did”. If the offence was of a sexual nature, the revenge also must also be sex-related, she wrote. Ardin was involved in Gender Studies in Uppsala University, in charge of gender equality in the Students’ Union, a junior inquisitor of "


----------

Anna Ardin about her blog link:

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2010/08/strangest-blog-thread-yet-on-swedish.html

of dont put your dick in stupid places...

http://nicholasmead.com/2010/08/21/how-to-smear-a-hero/#comment-1604

Rick

It seems pretty clear Ardin invited Assange to speak in Stockholm. She must have known he was on the way. That seminar can’t have been Assange’s primary reason for coming to Sweden.

http://twitter.com/annaardin/status/20812869124
I’ve invited Julian Assange from WikiLeaks to Sweden, he’s coming!!
6:46 PM Aug 10th via Twitter for Android

When asked where and when, she responded:
http://twitter.com/annaardin/status/20816327888
11 o’clock, haven’t found a venue yet…
7:41 PM Aug 10th via Twitter for Android in reply to telecomix

Then a day later:
http://twitter.com/annaardin/status/20885589749
Julian Assange, WikLeaks, seminar 11:00 in the LO building! Register with Janbroderskap.se, priority for the press
2:32 PM Aug 11th via Twitter for Android

(A day later they were already sold out.)

So she invited him. But does anyone know if they knew each other before this?

again seems like he may have created his own problem.

But if someone were trying to put as much trash posts out there as they can to keep off topic, I suppose that wouldn't matter or be considered.

that constitutes rape. I could give a shit if he and his buddies all drop dead or get found in their apartments stuffed in luggage with their cell phones and sd cards sitting around their bodies.

They are working in a very dangerous area, accidents can happen.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I would like them to add a "hijacks threads" alert for him. If you search his name in DU you'll see why. He especially hates Wikileaks threads but really his agenda is questionable on almost everything.

so I guess we should all think just like you. Assange is a hero of the state and we should all appreciate the great work he has done for mankind.

You are breaking forum rules ironically, but rather than alert you I will just note the irony of your devoid of content asshole post.

its a great deal... Beats having to screw white haired Australian hackers. Hope she got a bonus...

but that would assume you follow news. <insert quote re Jane and her ignorance..> You can cram that sir sideways too til you cough up the r, I work for a living.

I'm proud to have been in the same thread as you! :P

Good one!

THAT'S interesting...

While I certainly agree with the thrust of the article and especially this part:



it has to be said that some statements in the article are not true and based on web rumors and unreliable tabloids.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8998284&mesg_id=9003965

Lot's of news sites are covering it for the first time today - this is about re-opening the charges.

I had already been wondering when they would finally publish something at Counterpunch, didn't see it before.

Some minor details, such as Ardin having interned at Expressen and the main allegation being "deceipt" consisting of quick change to another sex partner are certainly false.

Which doesn't mean that Ardin may still have been the source of the tabloid, and that the allegations are ludicrous whichever way you look at them. They were lined out fairly comprehensively in the online edition of the Daily Mail a few days ago, supposedly based on the police report made available (another leak?) to AP.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1307137/Supporters-dismissed-rape-accusations-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange--women-involved-tell-different-story.html

So what though? We provide links all the time in threads - they aren't supposed to follow the 12 hour rule, they're links to look things up.

PS: Sounds like a perfectly plausible tale of personal revenge. But what if a powerful agency were to set up sex traps, wouldn't the same scenario be perfect to cover their tracks? And it apparently seems to work too. If both of the women consistently claim they said "pull out, now" but he didn't, odds are this thing will continue for a while, regardless of what really happened.

people in power really need a good ass kicking.

Source: Common Dreams/AP

Published on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 by the Associated Press
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.

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.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/01-3

sorry establishment, but your attempts are pretty fricking transparent... goes to show how little you know others which also exposes your arrogance and own ignorance or stupidity.

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/europe/02wikileaks.html



Yikes. These allegations are scary. Given the broken condom, the smoking gun could turn up in the womb shortly, and the two S's in Assange's surname could probably be capitalized...

keep it until later and make it look like broke.

As was said above, the won't stop until they completely discredit him. Otoh, Wikileaks doesn't need Assange to continue providing information to the world. A better way for those angry at Wikileaks would be to stop lying to their respective citizens.

It's a bit of a coincidence that this happens now isn't it? And with two
women no less.

it can lead to jail bait. There is an interesting gawker article upthread.

Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990!



http://gatsome.com/2009/09/01/glenn-beck-raped-and-murdered-a-girl-in-1990/

He has never denied it!!!!!! (Which is the Beckian standard of guilt/innocence)

And corporate crimes when you can attack journalists???

that is not journalism.

It seems to me that is an awfully difficult case on which to get a conviction. Establishing the integrity of the evidence would be difficult, especially after time has elapsed. It would be easy to tamper with evidence like a used condom, after the fact, if a frame-up was in the works.

Sex offences is where all boundaries falls, no laws or restrictions apply, and where the police can use any surveillance method on Assange - and more important, on Wikileaks.
You can aliken it to a terrorist charge/suspicion in the US, as you all probably know by now, that will open doors in every area.
My take on this is that sex accusations is the emergency method to deal with individuals which you otherwise can't get to, because they're not breaking any Swedish law. In Norway, which is a central player in the 'war on terror', the picture is different. In Norway, you have three ways of smear that can open any door: Sex crimes, terrorist and nazi.

The Swedish police, as the Norwegian police, has started to form their own inner structures based on political opinion rather than police instructions from above. The Swedish FRA law will give police opportunity to spy on internet traffic in and out of Sweden, without warrant or disclosure: NrK thru Google translate http://bit.ly/9laUgq

One striking thing about Ardin is how political correct she is. She's a social democrat. She's a feminist. She's a vegan. She's an activist for aid to Palestinians. She's so ... in the flow of things up here.
But she's no liberal and as some posts above here describe, she's not a friend of men, which she will subject to revenge at will, using laws that was meant to protect women from assault for her own personal or political gain.

This case illustrates perfectly the narrowing of civil liberties in Scandinavia today and how the 'it' works to impose their fundamentalist ways. The men/women angle is just a ruse, this is about totalitarianism based on religious beliefs, and how religious forces within a party otherwise normal will use police and media to gain headway. They're the Leakyleaks against their own party members, thus forming the policy within the party itself. I've seen it happen in Norway for years, where feminists, conservative christians and right wing extremists unite to promote mono culture, with anti immigration/racism as their uniting agenda. Their agendas meet on other areas too, being anti gay, anti abortion and opposed to liberalism in general. And, would you know it, opposed to womens lib.

In a year or so, it will be so much harder to whistleblow anything from Europe anyway, because a new EU directive requires all information about electronic communication to be stored in a central archive, making it easy for police and authorities to get access to the whistleblower, thus making it dangerous to partake in such activities. Wikileaks is based on anonymity, that's what it's all about.

A trick question at the end: Which major monumental media case recently involved Swedish women and sex 'crimes'? ;-)
You really don't see the possibility for the hidden hand in this?

Edit: typo