Sweden rejects Assange appeal to drop arrest warrant

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32688063?ocid=socialflow_twitter

by ghosh • 11 years ago

39 84 11 years ago

peteretep2• 11 years ago

From:

https://storify.com/anyapalmer/why-doesn-t-sweden-interview-...

    > the next step in the Swedish proceedings is to conduct a second
    > interview with him before making a decision whether to formally
    > charge him ... If a decision is taken to formally charge him,
    > Assange would face trial within two weeks of that decision
    > being made.  It is difficult to see how this could happen if
    > the final interview takes place in the Ecuadorian embassy in
    > Knightsbridge.

I wonder what's changed in the eyes of the Swedish prosecutor. I seemed to remember they were coming under some other deadline?

vacri7• 11 years ago

There's a five-year limit for some of the charges (but not all), from memory. As he turned out to be quite willing to wait it out, they are looking to retake the initiative.

belorn2• 11 years ago

Beyond that, the courts has been quite clear that the Swedish prosecutor must move forward with the case or it would be dismissed. The Supreme Court decision uses the recent decision by the Swedish prosecutor as the primary argument for rejecting the appeal.

Tomte• 11 years ago

Cannot be long until he would have had a better deal by going to the police, confessing everything (even if he didn't do it) and served his time.

Sitting in some embassy for years, without any possibility of having this time count towards a possible sentence.

mike-cardwell• 11 years ago

I imagine there are advanages to not being a convicted sex offender.

vacri7• 11 years ago

A high-profile one at that, given that his face was already all over the general news services.

vidarh14• 11 years ago

The "funny" thing given the context of this case is that one the things it would likely prevent him from doing - or at least make far harder - would be to voluntarily visit the US.

stuaxo• 11 years ago

He is probably balancing it against getting extradited to the U.S. and what could happen there.

ghshephard• 11 years ago

Easier to extradite him directly from the UK.

pantalaimon• 11 years ago

I think the main problem is Sweden would extraditing him to the US

peteretep2• 11 years ago

Why do you think that's more likely than the UK extraditing him to the US?

rbehrends• 11 years ago

Sweden cannot extradite him to the US without the UK's consent. So-called "specialty" rules generally prohibit the further extradition of a person to another country without the extraditing country's consent.

From the ruling of Judge Howard Riddle in Assange v. Swedish Prosecution Authority:

If Mr Assange is surrendered to Sweden and a request is made to Sweden for his extradition to the United States of America, then article 28 of the framework decision applies. In such an event the consent of the Secretary of State in this country will be required, in accordance with section 58 of the Extradition Act 2003, before Sweden can order Mr Assange’s extradition to a third State. The Secretary of State is required to give notice to Mr Assange unless it is impracticable to do so. Mr Assange would have the protection of the courts in Sweden and, as the Secretary of State’s decision can be reviewed, he would have the protection of the English courts also.

coldtea5• 11 years ago

It's not about this BS fake accusation that he stays in the embassy.

It's about who want him for the Wikileaks stuff -- which is what this case is all about too, and why it can go bad.

fetbaffe6• 11 years ago

How do you now it is BS?

danieltillett4• 11 years ago

Julian is not an idiot. He knows the whole Swedish prosecution is nothing other than a front to get him into Sweden so he can be handed over to the USA. Look at what happened to Chelsea - does anyone think Julian will face anything less?

Edit. I think that if Julian does now come to Sweden then he won't be extradited to the USA, but this is only because he has dragged it out to the point that nobody powerful in the USA cares too much anymore. My guess is he knows this too and will walk out any time now.

Nemcue8• 11 years ago

I'm so fucking sick of seeing people spout this, like it's something that would 100% happen.

Yes, Swedens' intelligence community collaborates with their US counterpart.

Sweden has also in the past extradited suspected terrorists. But there's a huge caveat there; they did so in /secret/ — and most importantly — the people involved were not Swedish citizens.

Understand that if Julian were to come to Sweden, and get extradited to the US it would be a HUGE deal.

The protests would be so massive it's not even funny.

The only reason why the current situation hasn't been a bigger thing in Sweden is that it clashes with the semi-radical feministic narrative driven by the media.

vidarh14• 11 years ago

Assuming there's nothing fishy going on, he would almost certainly have been a free man today had he gone to Sweden and gotten convicted - typical prison sentences for much more serious rape charges are usually shorter than this.

That to me indicates that at the very least his reluctance to go to Sweden is not mainly about the risk of being convicted, but that he sincerely believes in the concerns about extradition (legal or otherwise) to the US. Whether or not those concerns are justified is a separate matter.

Personally I think most of the odd things about this case can be explained by political ambitions on behalf of the prosecutor rather than US involvement - she's known to have long wanted to tighten up Swedish rape legislation even further and could very well have been looking for a case that would be high profile to try to push the envelope without having realised how Assange's fear of the US would make him react. (This doesn't imply anything about whether he's guilty or not)

timwaagh• 11 years ago

its simple. guy is guilty probably. sweden is tough on that kind of thing. its got nothing to do with the leaks.

efdee• 11 years ago

Thanks for your valuable contribution to this thread.

xname• 11 years ago

Many comments here fail to see the difference between:

A: lack of certainty of being extradited to the US

B: the certainty of not being extradited to the US

Many comments claim A, but logically Assange needs B.

Sweden rejects Assange appeal to drop arrest warrant

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