Julian Assange To Be Extradited To Sweden

Julian Assange (wired.com)

The Belmarsh court magistrates in London ruled in favor of extraditing the founder of the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks Julian Assange to Sweden, where he is to face charges of sexual abuse after two Swedish women accused him of having unprotected sex with them.

The legal team defending Assange said he would appeal the decision, and, if the appeal fails, the Australian-born editor will be sent to Sweden within 10 days.

Assange spoke about this decision and said that though the rule came as no big surprise, it was unjust nevertheless, and said that it was a result of the wrong European arrest warrant system.

He complained that the allegations against him have not been considered, and that this extradition would throw him into a legal system he did not understand that uses a language he did not speak.

Wanted (epochtimes-romania.com)

His legal team contended that prosecutor Marianne Ny had no authority to issue an European arrest warrant, but the judges decided that she had this right.

On behalf of Assange’s case came the testimony of a Swedish judge who said that Ny’s objectivity was biased, when it came to rape cases, by her crusader spirit on this matter, given that there are many cases of rape in Sweden and many of the sexual offenders get away with it.

The Prime Minister of Sweden denied such accusations and said that the case of Assange was strong, which was the moment when Assange accused him of creating a very unfriendly environment before the trial.

The judges dismissed Brita Sundberg-Weitman’s testimony on the grounds that she had no firsthand knowledge of it, given that she didn’t even know Ny in person.

The defense tried to assert that the accusations against their client were not offences under English law, and therefore they were not grounds for extradition.

T-shirt with Assange (realitatea.net)

The judge said that the accusation of the first woman was of assault and molestation, while the accusation of the second did “amount to rape.”

Another point was made of the fact that Ny did not try to investigate Assange while he was still in the country, which was of course very weird considering the eagerness to investigate him now.

The lawyers defending Assange argued that if turned to Sweden, their client could face a secret trial. The Swedish contended that while the evidence would be presented in secret, the arguments would be made public.

Julian Assange manifested his surprise at the treatment he has been subjected to since he published the famous U.S. diplomatic cables. Why was he set such a high bail if it were only for the rape case? Why would he be monitored with electronic equipment if he were not a very important target? Why all this commotion for a case of rape and sexual molestation if he were a simple sexual offender like many others in Sweden.

WikiLeaks (blog.thoughtpick.com)

He was in fact alluding to the fact that the American authorities were waiting to see how the extradition case turned out in order to make their next moves against him.

The American prosecution, Assange fears, is trying to build a case of espionage, the only thing that could stick in court and would dodge the First Amendment under which Assange has no legal problem for any of his actions on American soil.

The American prosecutors were forced however to admit to the fact that their only lead to an espionage case proved to be false, since there was no way of proving that private Bradley Manning had been forced into giving Assange the documents.

Assange made one of the arguments against extradition of the assertion that if extradited to Sweden he could then be sent to the United States. However, Sweden would have to ask permission from the UK for further extraditions.

There were several stances that gave Assange the possibility to infer that if sent to Sweden and then to the United States he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay or even be sentenced to death.

Among those who vituperated against him was Sarah Palin, presidential hopeful, who said that Assange should be prosecuted and hunted down like a criminal.

The idea that in his case an assassination should be permitted was also launched, and someone working for a law enforcing agency said that if he could not be prosecuted under existing laws new ones should be made to match his crimes.