Sweden Reopens 9-Year Old Rape
Investigation Against Julian Assange; Seeks His Extradition
May 13, 2019 • 17
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The Swedish prosecuting
authority announced at a Stockholm press conference Monday that Sweden would
seek Assange’s extradition from Britain to face investigation on a nearly
decade-old allegation of sexual assault.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Sweden’s deputy director of
public prosecution, Eva-Marie Persson, said Monday that Sweden would seek the
extradition of Julian Assange to face a nearly ten-year old allegation of rape.
Assange is serving a 50-week
sentence at Belmarsh prison in London for skipping bail in the rape case in
2012. Assange had lived inside the Ecuadorian embassy from June 2012 to April
11 this year, when Ecuador lifted his asylum and allowed British police to
enter the embassy and arrest him.
On the same day the United
States unveiled a sealed indictment accusing Assange of intrusion into a
government computer. The U.S. also filed an extradition request for Assange.
Persson told a press
conference in Stockholm on Monday that it would be up to British authorities to
determine which extradition request—to Sweden or to the U.S.— would take
precedence. She also said she wouldn’t speculate on an extradition request from
the U.S. to Sweden since one had not yet been made.
Persson said her decision was
based on the evidence, which she said was sufficient to suspect Assange of
rape. Swedish authorities had twice dropped the investigation. The first time
was just weeks after the allegations were made in August 2010. An arrest
warrant was canceled on
Aug. 21. Then Swedish chief prosecutor Eva Finne said that day: “I
don’t think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape.”
Assange left Sweden for
Britain with Sweden’s permission in September. When he arrived in Britain
an international arrest warrant was issued for him on Nov. 18, 2010.
Assange turned himself in on
Dec. 7 and was released on bail. He fought Sweden’s extradition requests after
Sweden refused to give his lawyers an assurance he would not be then extradited
to the U.S. When his final appeal was lost, Assange asked for and
received political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy.
In cryptic tweet, Ardin says
she wasn’t raped.
Assange said he would welcome Swedish
prosecutors coming to the embassy to question him, and prepared a written
statement, but documents uncovered in a FOIA request by Italian journalist
Stefania Maurizi showed heavy pressure from the British government on Sweden
not to come to London. In 2017, Swedish prosecutors ultimately visited
Assange at the embassy and in May of that year ended
the investigation, which has now been revived. At the time the
investigation was dropped for a second time, Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff
of Women Against Rape wrote:
“The allegations against
[Assange] are a smokescreen behind which a number of governments are trying to
clamp down on WikiLeaks for having audaciously revealed to the public their
secret planning of wars and occupations with their attendant rape, murder and
destruction… The authorities care so little about violence against women that
they manipulate rape allegations at will. [Assange] has made it clear he is
available for questioning by the Swedish authorities, in Britain or via Skype.
Why are they refusing this essential step in their investigation? What are they
afraid of?”
The statute of limitations on
the rape allegation runs out in August 2020.
Persson said the investigation
would end after that if no charges are filed against Assange. The rape
allegation was made by Anna Ardin, a Swedish national, who later admitted in a
cryptic tweet she was not raped. Ardin’s lawyers held a press conference at
7:30 a.m. EDT on Monday. Ardin said through her attorney that she was
“relieved” that the investigation will be restarted.
Greg Barns, Assange’s
Australian lawyer, tweeted: “Sweden request to re open questioning after
closing their files twice is extraordinary. This is abuse of process.”
Catherine Vogan contributed to
this article.
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