02.02.11
05:35 PM
DOCUMENTS IN JULIAN ASSANGE
RAPE INVESTIGATION LEAK ONTO WEB
The ongoing rape-and-sexual-molestation
investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is taking another in a series
of odd turns. A file containing 100 pages of interview transcripts,
investigatory notes and other material in the case has appeared online, where
it's being eagerly dissected by Swedish WikiLeaks-watchers.
The documents appear to
consist of pretrial discovery material that prosecutors provided to Assange's
Stockholm lawyer Björn Hurtig last year, which Hurtig subsequently faxed to the
office of Assange's British attorney Mark Stephens. The documents begin with a
Nov. 23 cover letter addressed to Stephens' co-counsel, in which Hurtig
advises: "Please note that the documents are legally privileged
information for Mr Julian Assange and nobody else."
Somehow, though, after
arriving in London, the documents got out. They were anonymously
posted to the Adobe Acrobat file sharing and collaboration site in
recent days, and the link is being circulated on Swedish message boards and
blogs. Stephens did not immediately return a phone call from Wired.com on
Wednesday.
The file relates how Assange's
separate sexual encounters with two women in Sweden last year led to the
criminal investigation, telling the story through police interviews with the
two alleged victims, and with friends to whom they'd confided. There is nothing
in the extensive details to support Assange's past assertions that the Swedish
criminal probe is part of "dirty
tricks" campaign against WikiLeaks.
The most substantive content
in the file was previously reported by Britain's Guardian in December, apparently from a subset of the
same police documents.
Assange began seeing the two
women during a 10-day trip to Stockholm last August. The first woman, referred
to in court as "Miss A.", told police that her consensual encounter
with Assange became violent when Assange pinned her to the bed as she attempted
to reach for a condom. He then allegedly released her and agreed to wear the condom,
but did something to it that caused it to rip, and continued to have sex.
The second woman, Miss W.,
also initially had consensual relations with Assange using a condom. But later,
as they shared a bed, Assange allegedly began having sex with her while she was
asleep – the basis of the rape allegation.
According to her police
statement, she woke up and asked, “Are you wearing anything?”
“You,” Assange replied.
“You'd better not have HIV,”
she said.
“Of course not.”
According to the police
report, “she felt it was too late" to halt the unprotected sex. "He
[Assange] was already inside her and she let him continue. She couldn’t be
bothered to tell him again. She had nagged about condoms all night. She had
never had unprotected sex before. He said he wanted to come inside her, he
didn’t say when he did, but he did it.”
Following the incidents, Miss
A. and Miss W. met up and went to police, after failing to persuade Assange to take
an HIV test.
While most of the details of
the allegations have been well known since December, the lurid color in the raw
file has captivated Swedish readers. In addition to the serious charges, the
police reports capture criticism by the women of Assange's personal hygiene and
sexual performance. Miss A., who housed Assange during his visit to Sweden,
told a friend that Assange was prone to not flushing the toilet after use, and
didn't shower.
Once during sex with Assange,
Miss W. says she turned towards him and smiled. "He asked her why she’s
smiling, what is there to smile about," reads the report. "She didn’t
like the undertone in his voice.”
There are also some unreported
details about the genesis of the criminal case.
• Miss A. saved the broken
condom from her encounter for a week while Assange stayed in her flat in
Stockholm, and then turned it over to police once the criminal investigation
began. A Xeroxed photo of the condom is in the file. Police forensics examiners
were unable to obtain a DNA sample from the condom.
� Miss
W. voluntarily underwent a full rape-kit test at a hospital, and was given
anti-HIV medication. No results from the rape kit are included in the leaked documents.
� Miss
W. was being interviewed by police when she learned that Swedish prosecutors
had issued an arrest warrant for Assange for sexual molestation based on Miss
A's statements. At that point, Miss W. appeared to become upset and was unable
to concentrate on the questioning, the police investigator writes, and the
interview was terminated.
� Miss
W. also provided police with a condom from one of her wakeful encounters with
Assange. The police were able to retrieve male DNA from that condom, but do not
have a sample of Assange's DNA with which to compare it.
� The
investigator who interviewed Miss W. took handwritten notes, which she then
keyed into the national police-evidence system. But when she tried to access
the file later to make revisions, she found herself locked out. A supervisor
instructed her to refile the report from scratch, with the unspecified
revisions.
Assange has not been charged,
and he has denied any wrongdoing. He is currently on house arrest near London
while he fights extradition to Sweden.
His lawyer, Stephens, has
argued that Swedish prosecutors are abusing the Swedish and British
legal process by attempting to extradite Assange without charging him with a
crime, and for alleged offenses that are not subject to extradition. A two-day
hearing is set for Feb. 7 and 8 in London.
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