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'Her behaviour undermines trust in our legal process'

Per E Samuelson on yesterday's news.


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The Assange case has been in a deadlock for over four years. Today chief prosecutor Marianne Ny sent a request for Assange's consent to question him in London and conduct a DNA test.

Firstly: this is a great victory for us and is something we've demanded for four years.

We have since the autumn of 2010 been trying to arrange a questioning with Assange. It's a great victory that Marianne Ny has now done an about-face and is ready to face the music after four years of deadlock.

Secondly: one is not allowed to conduct a preliminary investigation by doing nothing at all. Swedish legal code demands there be progress in the preliminary investigation.

One can't have a preliminary investigation, such as the one for Julian Assange, just lying there and doing nothing forever.

The court wants swift action. Witnesses must be questioned as soon as possible after the fact, not four years later, as in the Assange case. This is in everyone's interests - the state's, the complainants', the accused's.

This is what chief prosecutor Marianne Ny has violated, thereby damaging the quality of witness testimony.

Then too the formal request of the prosecutor is swept in a number of formalities of which Ecuador and Great Britain must approve.

English law demands that Assange, in this case the one to be questioned within the framework of international law, must give his consent. Ecuador will also receive a request for permission to conduct the procedure at their embassy in London.

We fear, however, that these formal requirements may take a long time, because it's not we but the countries themselves who decide.

The behaviour of chief prosecutor Marianne Ny undermines trust in our Swedish judicial system.

I have a lot of contact with international media. One can say they're very curious about a Swedish legal process where one can have a deadlock for four years. Many are surprised that Sweden, with a reputation of being country with rule of law, can treat people so harshly.

I'm not surprised by news of Marianne Ny's decision today - it was only a matter of time before she was forced to travel to London.

It's very difficult to explain why all this prestige. One can only ascertain that there have been obvious hindrances due to prestige. We should be glad these matters have been resolved.

International pressure has played its part, but the Swedish debate has been somewhat infected by the media and certain individuals, even members of government, who see this as a 'Swedish' case.

They've not understood that this is a difficult situation where there's a risk my client Julian Assange can be surrendered to the US if he leaves the Ecuador embassy.

On the whole, my client, whom I have just spoken to, is happy that something is finally happening. He looks forward to being able to give his version of events.

My client looks forward to having his name exculpated, but he cannot hide his irritation that this process did not move forward for such a long time.

Julian Assange wants this questioning.

Per E Samuelson

I'm so sick of it all. Will it never end? At any rate I want to say the other girl's just as much to blame.
 - Anna Ardin

Apparently Swedish laws are unique. If you have a penis you're half a rapist before you even get through customs.
 - Scott Adams

If I am able to reveal what I know, everyone will realise this is all a charade. If I could tell the British courts, I suspect it would make extradition a moot point.
 - Björn Hurtig

I can tell you that the Swedish prosecution still hasn't provided copies of those SMS texts that have been referred to. Those texts are some of the most powerful exculpatory evidence. In Australia prosecutors have a very grave duty to disclose such evidence to courts when seeking the grave exercise of a court's power against an individual. Yet in Sweden in this case, in the first hearings to obtain an arrest warrant, those texts were not submitted to the Swedish court, which is highly improper.
 - James Catlin

The prosecutor could achieve this broadening of the law during Assange's trial so he can be convicted of a crime that didn't exist at the time he allegedly committed it. She would need to. There is no precedent for this. The Swedes are making it up as they go along.
 - James Catlin

Julian Assange will surely learn that considering what WikiLeaks has published, he's got a few enemies in the Pentagon, the CIA, and the White House. Sweden began an investigation into rape which was later dismissed. Assange was even denied residence in Sweden. One can only speculate to what extent the security agencies of the US were involved. And considering the obvious interest of the US to silence WikiLeaks, is it likely Assange will have an accident of the 'Boston brakes' kind in the coming years? Or will he be snared with compromising information of the 'honey trap' kind?
 - 'Drozd' at Flashback 23 October 2010

The truth will out, the truth wins out. Let no journalist ever again speculate into what the protocols say. Six months of digging and the people at Flashback have the actual documents. The sleaze printed by rags such as the Daily Mail, Sweden's Aftonbladet and Expressen, and perhaps above all the toxic Nick Davies of the Guardian, can stand no more. Yet more: these documents are an indictment of the 'news organisations' who've printed deliberate inaccuracies all along or even worse: refused to print anything at all. Nick Davies' account of the protocols was maliciously skewed; both Aftonbladet and Expressen had copies early on and printed nothing. Bloggers had copies but arrogantly kept the information to their Smeagol selves.
 - The Assange Police Protocol: Translator's Note

See Also
Justice4Assange.com
Assange Defence Fund
WikiLeaks: Support WikiLeaks
The Police Protocol (Translated)
Rixstep: JA/WL (Assange/WikiLeaks)
Rixstep: Assange/WikiLeaks RSS Feed
Radsoft: Assange/WikiLeaks RSS Feed

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