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Marianne Ny Has Nothing To Say

And even that was an effort.


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DUCKPOND (Rixstep) — Amidst growing worldwide protests against the way prosecutor Marianne Ny has mismanaged the Assange case, there is but one comment heard from her: 'I've got nothing to say'. Which in and of itself represents a bit of a watershed.

It was the Swedish site Dagens Juridik ('Today's Judicial News') which tried to bring the point home and reported that the 'development centre' prosecutor had been asked to comment on her conduct.

Marianne Ny, colleague of Claes Borgström, has been in charge of the 'Assange case' ever since chief prosecutor Eva Finné began dropping the allegations at the end of August 2010. (Ny also made the bold move of making herself chief police investigator.) Borgström namely petitioned Ny to reopen the preliminary investigations, in itself something of a milestone, as the first prosecutor Maria Häljebo Kjellstrand had gone to the police and initiated a 'man hunt' for the WikiLeaks founder before even receiving, much less studying, any of the 'evidence' - a matter sharply reversed by the more experienced Finné the following day, and that in turn resulted in the rather bizarre AJE news interview with press spokesperson Karin Rosander who insisted 'everything was in order'.



(And also in the rather staggering Bonnier TV interview with Lena Sundström where she cautioned Swedish viewers to 'try not to think about it [sic]'.)



Reopening a police investigation customarily requires new evidence, but all Ny and Borgström had were two bits of condom, one of which was accidentally discovered by the state crime lab to have been 'faked'.

Nevertheless, the reopened investigation wore on, with Ny issuing a secret warrant against Assange when she first gave him permission to leave the country, then misrepresenting the facts to TIME when she stated use of Mutual Legal Assistance was not permitted - something supported by foreign minister Carl Bildt when he incorrectly informed Assange counsel Jennifer Robinson that MLA was 'against the Swedish constitution [sic]', and so forth and so on.

Agenda

But Swedish television talk show 'Agenda' decided to review the case at last weekend, and invited Marianne to come with comments.

Marianne Ny refused. Her press spokesman had the following to say.

The prosecutor sees no possibility to, in the media, discuss possible future judgements or decisions which can be brought on by developments in the case, this with consideration both for the accused and the complainants and for the need for confidentiality in the investigation. In addition there is an overriding concern that the arguments of the prosecutor be presented in a court of law and not primarily in the media.

And for the same reason, and because Ny is the sole arbitrator in the case, there is no possibility for any other representative of the prosecution authority to take part in a public discussion, says Ny's spokesperson. Ny then ends with the classic:

As soon as new information or decisions are available, these will be accounted for by the prosecutor and published on the website.

But There's More

But there's more - or at least there should be more. The case has drawn considerable scorn on Sweden because of its mysteries and contradictions, things which Marianne Ny could easily remedy without jeopardising her position in any way. To wit:

  • Why wait so long to interrogate the chief suspect?
  • Why refuse his repeated requests to be interrogated?
  • Why give the suspect permission to leave the country, only to issue a secret warrant behind his back?
  • Why collaborate with the media to have the suspect 'ambushed' on his return?
  • Why lie to the media about the 'illegality' of using Mutual Legal Assistance?
  • Why refuse defence counsel full access to 'SMS traffic' which at least one of them states makes the whole case 'moot'?

And why, Marianne Ny, have you consistently refused to account for your actions for the month of September 2010?

See Also
Assange in Sweden: The Lab Results
Industry Watch: Swedish Prosecutor: Time to Close the Assange Case
Dagens Juridik: Prosecutor refuses to comment on Assange case (SWEDISH)

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