13-08-2015, 03:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 13-08-2015, 08:10 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
Two events today. Sweden said they are about to drop some of the charges against Assange. This is a mis-statement and twisting of the truth. These will expired their statue of limitations. However, the most egregious charge of rape remains.
Second, Britain is to make a "formal protest" to Ecuador over its harboring of Julian Assange. Maybe they are tired of paying the enormous costs of police surveillance 24-7-365 [more than 12 000 000 pounds]; but more likely just hoping to pressure Assange into stepping out so they can send him to his death in US hands (for telling truths the USA didn't want told).
Ah, Justice....something no longer afoot in the Western World when it comes to speaking truth to power.
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Swedish prosecutors reportedly set to drop Assange sex crime charges
Statute of limitations looms in charges against WikiLeaks founder, who is holed up in Ecuadorean Embassy in London
August 12, 2015 1:28PM ET
Swedish officials said Wednesday they were making last-minute attempts to quiz WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over sex crimes allegations despite reports that prosecutors were resigned to dropping the investigation because of the statute of limitations.
Assange, an Australian who escaped a Swedish arrest warrant by taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012, is wanted on two allegations of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion, which will fall under the statute of limitations on Aug. 18 unless he is formally charged. A fourth allegation of rape is valid until 2020.
With time running out, the BBC reported that prosecutors in Sweden were preparing to announce Thursday that they were dropping the investigation.
[URL="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/28/swedens-top-court-says-will-hear-assange-appeal-over-arrest-warrant.html"]
![[Image: image.adapt.480.high.assange_081814.1439407848470.jpg]](http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/articles/2015/4/28/swedens-top-court-says-will-hear-assange-appeal-over-arrest-warrant/jcr:content/image.adapt.480.high.assange_081814.1439407848470.jpg)
Sweden's top court will hear Assange appeal over arrest warrant
WikiLeaks founder has been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to Sweden
[/URL]
Assange, 44, has denied the allegations and said he has no intention of going to Sweden for fear of being extradited to the United States because of an ongoing investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents.
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman at Sweden's prosecution authority, said that Assange and British authorities have agreed he be questioned in London but that prosecutors have not heard back from Ecuadorean Embassy officials despite attempts to contact them in March and June.
The Ecuadorean Embassy said in a statement Monday that "on no occasion has any representative of the kingdom of Sweden presented themselves at the embassy in relation to the Assange matter." The embassy didn't immediately respond to requests for further comment Wednesday.
"Even though the prosecutor is obliged to drop the [three] cases that will expire ... the rape [allegation] still stands," Rosander said. She did not want to speculate whether the prosecutor would abandon the prosecution.
One of Assange's Swedish defense lawyers, Thomas Olsson, said that if the three cases are dropped, "it will not change anything for Assange," since the arrest warrant remains in force. "I believe the case should have been closed long ago because the evidence is weak."
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Riddselius said that Sweden and Ecuador have agreed to start talks on an agreement of mutual legal assistance but that it was unclear if it could open the possibility of questioning Assange at the embassy.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
Second, Britain is to make a "formal protest" to Ecuador over its harboring of Julian Assange. Maybe they are tired of paying the enormous costs of police surveillance 24-7-365 [more than 12 000 000 pounds]; but more likely just hoping to pressure Assange into stepping out so they can send him to his death in US hands (for telling truths the USA didn't want told).
Ah, Justice....something no longer afoot in the Western World when it comes to speaking truth to power.
----
Swedish prosecutors reportedly set to drop Assange sex crime charges
Statute of limitations looms in charges against WikiLeaks founder, who is holed up in Ecuadorean Embassy in London
August 12, 2015 1:28PM ET
Swedish officials said Wednesday they were making last-minute attempts to quiz WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over sex crimes allegations despite reports that prosecutors were resigned to dropping the investigation because of the statute of limitations.
Assange, an Australian who escaped a Swedish arrest warrant by taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012, is wanted on two allegations of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion, which will fall under the statute of limitations on Aug. 18 unless he is formally charged. A fourth allegation of rape is valid until 2020.
With time running out, the BBC reported that prosecutors in Sweden were preparing to announce Thursday that they were dropping the investigation.
[URL="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/28/swedens-top-court-says-will-hear-assange-appeal-over-arrest-warrant.html"]
Sweden's top court will hear Assange appeal over arrest warrant
WikiLeaks founder has been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to Sweden
[/URL]
Assange, 44, has denied the allegations and said he has no intention of going to Sweden for fear of being extradited to the United States because of an ongoing investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents.
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman at Sweden's prosecution authority, said that Assange and British authorities have agreed he be questioned in London but that prosecutors have not heard back from Ecuadorean Embassy officials despite attempts to contact them in March and June.
The Ecuadorean Embassy said in a statement Monday that "on no occasion has any representative of the kingdom of Sweden presented themselves at the embassy in relation to the Assange matter." The embassy didn't immediately respond to requests for further comment Wednesday.
"Even though the prosecutor is obliged to drop the [three] cases that will expire ... the rape [allegation] still stands," Rosander said. She did not want to speculate whether the prosecutor would abandon the prosecution.
One of Assange's Swedish defense lawyers, Thomas Olsson, said that if the three cases are dropped, "it will not change anything for Assange," since the arrest warrant remains in force. "I believe the case should have been closed long ago because the evidence is weak."
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Riddselius said that Sweden and Ecuador have agreed to start talks on an agreement of mutual legal assistance but that it was unclear if it could open the possibility of questioning Assange at the embassy.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass