Part 19 (2/2)
The Supreme Court has decided not to grant leave to Julian a.s.sange to appeal. Additional information will be sent to the British police.
Julian a.s.sange has been subjected to an arrest warrant in his absence for rape, s.e.xual a.s.sault and coercion. a.s.sange has appealed this decision at the Court of Appeal.
For the Supreme Court to grant leave for an appeal, it needs authorization. It may be granted if the case is expected to have significant impact on law enforcement, or if there are other important reasons.
The arrest warrant is based on the decision to arrest, which has now been validated by the three instances. The additional information required by the British police concern the charges linked to the other offences besides rape for which Julian a.s.sange is being prosecuted. The information required will be provided as quickly as possible. The previous arrest warrants remain in effect.
Julian a.s.sange was then one of the most wanted men in the world. At that time, he was in the south of England. ”When you get that many death threats, it's better to be discrete,” Kristinn Hrafnsson, spokesperson of WikiLeaks, admitted. According to the Icelander, Julian was not trying to flee Swedish prosecution, but feared his own safety.
* Progress report on the European arrest warrant, Monday, December 6, 2010 Marianne Ny submitted the additional information requested by the British police. The case is being handled by the competent judicial authorities according to European regulatory framework. For now the Chief Prosecutor will not provide any additional information concerning the execution of the arrest warrant.
* Statement of Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 The British police have arrested Julian a.s.sange. Following the day's events, Marianne Ny said: ”Besides the arrest, nothing new happened in the investigation, but the arrest was a prerequisite so that we could move on. I cannot provide any information on what happens next in the investigation. Currently the case is in the hands of the British authorities.
I would like to point out that I have not been subjected to any political pressure or other kinds of pressure. I act as a prosecutor because of suspicions of s.e.xual crimes committed in Sweden in August. Swedish prosecutors are fully autonomous in their decision.”
On December 7 2010 in front of a British court, Gemma Lindfield, representative of the Swedish authorities, detailed the four charges against Julian a.s.sange, which are 'coercion' and 's.e.xual a.s.sault' of Ms. Ardin on the night of August 14, 2010, first by firmly holding her arms, then by forcing her to have unprotected s.e.x. Julian a.s.sange was also accused of the 'voluntary aggression' of Ms. Ardin. Finally, on August 17 2010 he was accused of having 'abusively exploited' the fact that Ms. Wilen was sleeping in order to have unprotected s.e.x with her.
Lindfield added that bail should be refused to a.s.sange because of his 'nomadic ways,' the contacts he has around the world and the money at his disposal thanks to his many donors, but also because has already refused to take a DNA test or provide his fingerprints. Lindfield also pointed out that this would help ensure the protection of the accused, should unstable people try to seriously harm him.
On December 7, 2010, Julian a.s.sange was behind bars. He voluntarily gave himself up to the authorities in the morning and was heard at 2 p.m. in front of a Westminster court, which was swarming with journalists.
After having highlighted 'the extreme gravity of the accusations' made against him, Judge Howard Riddle refused his request for release on bail, as the accused had 'the means and ability to flee.' Julian a.s.sange was detained awaiting a new court appearance on December 14, 2010.
In the mean time, the WikiLeaks organization faced problems from all sides: cyber attacks, domains closings and banking bans. However, Julian said he took all the necessary precautions to guarantee continuing the leaks regardless of what were to happen to him.
James Ball, a British journalist collaborating with WikiLeaks said: ”Everything is planned, all this will continue as ever.”
That night Julian slept in a cell. He's looking at four years in prison.
37.
BEHIND BARS.
Published on December 20, 2010 by sophox
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Julian got out of prison this Thursday evening, December 16, 2010. He was incarcerated on December 7, in Great Britain following a European arrest warrant issued by Swedish authorities. He's being prosecuted for rape, s.e.xual a.s.sault and constraint, and could be extradited to Sweden over the next few weeks. a.s.sange has always denied these accusations, claiming there's a smear campaign against him since WikiLeaks revealed thousands of confidential, diplomatic American doc.u.ments. ”I don't like to see the word 'rape' next to my name. I have never had a s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p with a woman without her consent,” he affirms strongly. He still risks four years in prison for 'minor rape.'
”It's great to feel the fresh air of London again,” Julian said about his forced stay in ”solitary confinement at the bottom of a Victorian prison.”
He got out of prison after posting 240,000 pounds (USD 390,000) on bail, collected by friends and sympathizers. It wasn't easy to find that kind of money, which is why his release was delayed by at least two days. That meant dis.h.i.+ng out 390,000 dollars, with 200,000 that had to be paid in cash. Many celebrities like British filmmaker and left-wing English figure, Ken Loach helped him out. Some of the other bail providers were the lovely Jemima Khan, ex-wife of Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan, amba.s.sador for UNICEF and fortunate aristocrat close to Lady Diana, and American doc.u.mentary maker Michael Moore.
”It's a considerable amount and what is sad, is that he can't use Visa or MasterCard to help collect these funds,” lawyer Mark Stephens said jokingly. He alludes here to the fact that both American credit card companies have blocked money transfers to the WikiLeaks site.
Julian therefore came out of prison 'believing in the British justice system.' ”I hope to continue my work,” said the founder of WikiLeaks on the steps of the building of the High Court, after nine days of detention. He wants to prove his innocence, and that's why he gave himself up to the police on December 7, 2010.
In the mean time, after a prison cell, it's time for 'mansion arrest.' Julian is staying at Ellingham Hall, a manor two hours away from London, in Norfolk.
Vaughan Smith, the owner of London's Frontline Club for journalists, is playing host to Julian in his ancestral manor, located in a wooded area, at the side of a lake. His host, former officer turned war correspondent, did say that that he had a good Internet connection.
It's a gilded cage, really, because his parole has strict instructions to be followed: electronic tag, curfew and reporting to a police station every day. He has to show up every day between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Beccles police station. In the county of Suffolk, Beccles is a small town located a few hundred yards from the coast of the North Sea, about fifteen minutes from Ellingham Hall.
Julian cannot give interviews at his residence, as his lawyer forbids it. He also cannot talk about the case, as only his legal representatives are now allowed to do so. However, he can be approached in his small black car when he goes to the Beccles police station.
”He is settling down in the house,” said Vaughan Smith. ”He works, I don't spend my time looking over his shoulder, I am his host, not his jailer,” added the estate owner.
For Mr. Smith, the innocence of his guest is not in question. He believes in his fight. ”He initiated developments that will change our world. There is an opportunity for governments to change. We would have a better world as a result,” he explained.
Julian has settled in the residence with a few friends, including WikiLeaks spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson.
Although his pa.s.sport was taken away, he remains available to the Swedish authorities, as he believes that this entire matter is simply and purely something the Americans cooked up.
A French intelligence expert came up with this hypothesis: ”The Swedish are trying to set him up. They want to break him and make an example of him so he'll stop making noise in the media in the future.” It's true that he'll have less time to provoke Western governments if he has to fight with lawyers to ensure his defense.
In the beginning, there were two young Swedes, Anna Ardin and Sofia Wilen.
What Julian did wrong: refused to use condoms when they had s.e.xual relations. That was mid-August of last year, during a seminar in Stockholm, Sweden. They are Julian's main accusers.
What troubles me is that they waited several days to go to the police, which in fact fueled the wildest online rumors. From the very beginning, he's always claimed that the two Swedes were recruited to trap him. I even read that one of the two plaintiffs has a cousin posted in Afghanistan. Or maybe they're in it for the money, unless they want to get revenge on a man who deceived them, or better yet, men in general, as Anna is apparently a fundamentalist-feminist.
Last we heard Anna left Stockholm to go to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group. She's no longer cooperating with prosecutors or even her lawyer. We've read everything on these two girls, all on the Internet.
I found a few troubling coincidences: how these women persisted in meeting Julian, and after having had s.e.xual relations with him, they continued to be in contact with their presumed rapist. That's very strange.
What really bothers me is how fiercely people are attacking them online. They've said next to nothing since the end of August.
We know very little about Sofia Wilen. She was said to have worked part-time in a museum and that her boyfriend was an American artist named Seth Benson.
Neither one of them give interviews. Since their accusation of s.e.xual crimes, qualified by Julian many times as a set up to discredit WikiLeaks, the young women live far from the media's attention. Sofia has even cut off her phone. On December 17, Anna wrote on her blog that she was ”taking a break,” but announced she would express herself soon on the site prataomdet.se (Prata om det means 'to talk about it'). This forum was created in December of 2010, where you can read testimonials published since the beginning of the affair on Twitter or in Swedish newspapers of women who claim they've been victims of comparable s.e.xual aggression.
On Twitter, Ardin says she's happy to write that she's 'the real' Anna Ardin. Finally, on December 8, she tweeted a weird allusion to the affair: ”CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, frigid & fatally in love with a man, can you be all that at the same time...”
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