Part 20 (2/2)

Australian-born British lawyer Geoffrey Robertson joined Julian's defense team, a legal eagle chosen by Julian to represent him once he was out of prison in December 2010. A human rights defender, Robertson is known for having defended hyped up cases like those of Salman Rushdie, a British author of Indian origin at the forefront of freedom of expression.

The strategy of Julian a.s.sange's defense team was aggressive and audacious. Using some fifteen different arguments, the members tried to convince the judge not to send their client in front of a Swedish court. They first attacked the hypothetical link between Stockholm and Was.h.i.+ngton. Sweden might intend to deliver Julian to the United States in a plan to silence him. He also feared being killed if he were to end up in an American prison.

According to the defense, his extradition to Sweden would open the door to sending their client to the United States, where he risks imprisonment at Guantanamo or a death sentence for treason. However, always according to his lawyers, a penal investigation has been open since the summer of 2010 and the Obama administration is currently looking for a legal angle in American law to bring up charges against the founder of WikiLeaks.

Australia, Julian's home country and an ally of the United States, has remained discrete, diplomatically speaking, while public opinion is clearly on his side. In December 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that WikiLeaks' actions were illegal without actually being able to prove it. Today the Australian government has completely distanced itself from their citizen, as no diplomatic protest exists to this day, either in Sweden or in the United States.

Julian's mother deplores that the Minister of Foreign Affairs didn't respect its promise of offering diplomatic a.s.sistance to her son as an Australian citizen. However, Julian is impatient to get back to Melbourne. He has asked his country to take measures for his repatriation in order to protect him and his team. Victim of political maneuvers, Julian is convinced that Ms. Gillard is secretly providing information about him to the American authorities.

The defense continued its arguments of invalidity regarding the rape accusations. Since the beginning of the affair in August, Julian has kept insisting that both women had consensual s.e.x with him. Moreover, in Great Britain, the facts blamed on Julian are not at all defined in the same way as they are in Sweden. The defense team continued to insist on the fact that a trial there would be prejudicial to their client, because rape cases are heard behind closed doors, therefore Julian could not possibly get a fair trial.

Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny was highly criticized during these proceedings. According to the defense, the European arrest warrant is invalid and the judge was not authorized to honor it.

Furthermore, Bjorn Hurtig accused the police and the Swedish court of leaking information to the media since August of 2010. Sven-Erik Alhem, former Swedish prosecutor was astonished that Julian a.s.sange's name was put on public display before being accused of anything. Extradition is unnecessary, as Swedish justice only wanted to question him.

Smart tactic by Mr. Robertson to avoid extradition: quoting the comments made by Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that are prejudicial to his client. The lawyer spoke of a toxic atmosphere in Sweden where Julian a.s.sange is seen today as Public Enemy Number One. It's that kind of shameful behavior that ruins any chances of their client getting a fair trial if he were to be extradited to Sweden. In every country the legal realm is separated from the political realm, but apparently that's not the case in Sweden, the defense argues.

The Swedish Prime Minister deplored the defense lawyers taking so little consideration of women's rights in their arguments and points of view. Annoyed, he answered sharply to the suggestion of a plot with the United States. Mr. Reinfeldt regrets the way in which Julian's defense presents his country's justice system, as the legal system is in fact independent. He disagreed with the insinuations that Julian's rights would be ignored if he were extradited. According to him it's a lawyer tactic to be condescending towards the legal system of another country in order to defend their client.

Julian appeared relaxed throughout the three days of his hearings. He thought that the arguments shed some light on the unjust character of the European arrest warrants system and the Swedish police and justice methods. He complained that he never had a chance to tell his version of the facts and that the arguments were limited to procedural ones. For ages it has been announced that he'd reveal a new barrage of secret doc.u.ments if his site were to close permanently.

The hearing was adjourned until February 24 2011 at which time Judge Riddle had to hand his verdict on the extradition of Julian to Sweden. That day, the green light was given: the judge ordered the extradition of the Australian to Sweden. At the end of a short hearing, Riddle felt that the allegations of s.e.xual a.s.sault and rape were serious enough to justify extradition. According to him, the procedure followed by the Swedish authorities was standard and no errors were made in issuing the arrest warrant. Riddle confirmed that Julian would have a fair trial in Sweden, emphasizing the mutual respect and confidence of the British court toward other European courts. The verdict ordered the extradition of a.s.sange to Sweden within the next ten days.

After three months of procedures since released from prison, Julian, dressed in a dark suit and tie, didn't flinch when he heard the verdict. The defense team led by Mr. Robertson has appealed the verdict in front of the High Court in London.

Their client has again formally denied any accusations. The judge did however state that Julian deliberately had s.e.x with one of the two Swedish women while she was asleep, which in Great Britain is akin to rape.

All kinds of recourses are still possible. The a.s.sange team has seven days, as of February 24 2011, to file an appeal. Public Enemy Number One will then appear in front of Appellate Court, Supreme Court, and finally, the European Court of Human Rights.

There are many months of procedures to come, as there's a long legal battle ahead.

1 Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American mythologist famous for his thoughts on heroes, their motivations, their success as well as their mistakes.

2 Source: The World's Most Wanted House Guest by Vaughan Smith published by ”The Telegraph” and on the Frontline Club website (16/12/2010).

3 FB: Facebook.

4 'Nerd' in leet speak. Leet speak is a partially coded langage used on the Internet that replaces certain letters with numbers or signs that look like them.

5 This dialogue reflects Julian a.s.sange's conspiracy theories. iq.org/conspiracies.pdf.

6 Idiot.

7 Stop.

8 Big ego.

9 Bulletin Board System: a server running software that acts as a virtual bulletin board.

10 Distributed Denial of Service.

11 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

12 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

13 A mufti is a interpreter of Islamic law.

14 'Charlie' is the name given to the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong), referred to as 'Victor Charlie' by American soldiers.

15 A collection of internal US war logs published by WikiLeaks.

16 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

17 The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a US private, non-profit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic inst.i.tutions around the world. Founded in 1983, it is primarily funded through an annual allocation from the US Congress.

18 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

19 Rocket-propelled grenade is a kind of bazooka.

20 US Navy lingo for Guantanamo.

21 Source : contrebandiers de l'information de Jean Eudes published in the French newspaper Le Monde.

22 Source : contrebandiers de l'information de Jean Eudes published by the Frensh newspaper Le Monde.

23 Source : contrebandiers de l'information de Jean Eudes published by the French newspaper Le Monde.

24 From Orsola Veille in Media.

25 From Orsola Veille in Media.

26 Source : contrebandiers de l'information de Jean Eudes published by the French newspaper Le Monde 27 Source : interview with Birgitta Jonsdottir in The National Post. news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/15/qa-former-wikileaks-spokeswomanbirgittajonsdottir/ 28 Source : interview with Birgitta Jonsdottir in The National Post. news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/15/qa-former-wikileaks-spokeswomanbirgittajonsdottir/ 29 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

30 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

31 No secrets, Julian a.s.sange's mission for a total transparency by Raffi Khatchadourian on .

32 /most-dangerous-man-jacob-appelbaumafter-julian-a.s.sange-in-wikileaks-org-website.html.

33 Tron, American science fiction movie, directed by Steven Lisberger, en 1982. The film's hero is a hacker.

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