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Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation (cnn.com)
rmdingler writes: "Sweden is dropping its investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on rape allegations, according to a prosecution statement released Friday," reports CNN. "Assange, who has always denied wrongdoing, has been holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, in an effort to avoid a Swedish arrest warrant." Despite Friday's announcement, he's unlikely to walk out of the embassy imminently. There is no apparent change in the risk of being detained in the west, particularly in the U.S., but it's definitely a win for Assange.
Joshua.Niland adds: The pressure on Julian Assange may have lifted ever so slightly with Swedish prosecutors dropping their investigation into the allegations of rape. A brief statement ahead of a press conference by the prosecutor later on Friday said: "Director of Public Prosecution, Ms Marianne Ny, has today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape (lesser degree) by Julian Assange." This will not likely deter the United States from pursuing their own charges against him for publishing tens of thousands of military documents leaked by Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
After describing the development as "an important victory," Assange said, "[...] it by no means erases seven years of detention without charge under house arrest and almost five years here in this embassy without sunlight. Seven years without charge while my children grow up without me. That is not something I can forgive. It is not something I can forget."
Actually if you knew anything about suspected rape cases in Sweden you would realize that this case is in fact very odd.
Sweden can (but rarely does) try him in absentia. Sweden has been granted access to Julian Assange by phone, video conference, and in person. Sweden refused. Those means are commonly used.
Sweden has chosen to not pursue a legal conviction since before Assange "escaped" to Ecuador. Sweden has only acted to get him back in custody. It's inconsistent and suspicious.
Proof of his innocence is calls from the "victims" to drop the case.
A crime that isn't a crime almost anywhere else. Essentially Sexual Fraud, where he lied to gain consent "Yes baby, you are the only one for me". Lying to a sexual partner is "rape" in Sweden.
Learn to love Alaska
The only thing "fishy" about this case to start with was that Assange decided to run and hide in the embassy rather than face his day in court, spouting this blatant nonsense about a US extradition scheme.
Yet America refused to say that they would not ask Sweden to extradite if Assange agreed to testify.
And then they got Bolivian president's Evo Morales' plane rerouted by spreading rumors that Snowden was aboard and demanding extradition
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Actually not true and totally misleading. The women NEVER wanted to pursue charges. They just wanted him to take an STD test. What Americans (I'm assuming you're American) because in the US charges are placed by the victim and they have discretion to remove them. In other parts of the world that's not the case, the police place the charges with or without the wishes of the victim.
In this case, rape is fairly harsh since you're wanting to create victims out of people who may not want to be treated as victims.
I can understand their willingness for wanting him to take an STD test, that makes sense. But its not often that people know the intricacies of the law or the part they play in the legal process. In this case I believe they didn't know what was in store for Assange or for them by reporting this. So by trying to get the police to help them with one thing it evolved into a crime being reported. Which also goes back to the purpose of why we have police, you'd think police are there to keep order and peace, in this case its not whats happening as what's happening is much greater than that.
It can be quite clearly seen as a misuse of the justice system (for whatever reason) because of they hows and whys here. Normally you'd see such cases being thrown out UNLESS you had distort victimised people who cant live with whats happened and demand justice. And if that is the case then yes you'd be right. But what i see as an issue is that this is not evident. Where are they? can you point them out to me?
because US went off the reservation in pursuit of those guys (him and Snowden). And since that part was very publicly proven [wikipedia.org], it throws some serious shade on the whole accusation thing.
The US going after Assange is pure, unadulterated, extra-legal revenge for the public political embarrassment WL has caused the US government by exposing their wrongdoing. Assange no more broke US laws than Woodward & Bernstein did in printing the Pentagon Papers, and W & B are US citizens and were on US soil when they printed the PPs, totally unlike Assange.
But then, if we've learned anything over the past 10 years, it's that those in power believe themselves above the law and think they can do whatever they want and to whomever they want with little consequences.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
He's always been available-- they could come to talk to him at the embassy, interview him on the phone, or whatever. He just won't go where it's easy for the US to grab him, which is not at all an unrealistic fear at this point.
A modest proposal: if we're the good guys, we shouldn't go around acting like the bad guys in a cold war spy novel.