Assange
Assange case: Five things you may not know about it
Julian Assange is co-founder of whistleblower website WikiLeaks, who has
been living in Ecuadoran embassy in London since 2012 because leaving
it would likely result in his extradition to Sweden. In Sweden he was
accused of sex crimes against two women. Assange says the case is part
of US attempt to try him for espionage. Here are five facts about the
situation often omitted by the media.
1. There was no charge against Assange in Sweden. Swedish law enforcement
wants to question him as part of a preliminary inquiry and insist on
doing it on Swedish soil.
2. The US espionage case against Assange is not something he “believes” in -
it is a fact. It exists as repeatedly confirmed by US Justice
Department and the FBI.
3. The accusation of alleged rape by Assange has been disproven by the
Swedish prosecutors in 2010. But the case was reopened on insistence of
Claes Borgström, a Swedish politician and lawyer, who represented the
two women.
4. After Assange left the country, Swedish investigators questioned 44
people in connection with the case in UK. Assange is not among them. The
Swedish Court of Appeal (confirmed by Sweden’s Supreme Court) found in
2014 that the prosecutor had breached her duty in the Assange case by
refusing to accept Assange’s statement in the UK for 5 years.
5. Assange left Sweden after being denied a residence and work permit, not
fleeing an imminent arrest. He departed five weeks after the initial
accusations were brought before the Swedish police, during which time
the prosecutor declined to question him on a number of occasions.
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