BRKG Swedish Prosecutors Have Dropped The Julian Assange Rape Investigation

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.buzzfeed.com/franciswhi...julian-assange?utm_term=.sclOJyLeX#.bpnw81JkY

Swedish Prosecutors Have Dropped The Julian Assange Rape Investigation

The country's prosecutor said that all prospects of pursuing the investigation had been exhausted, adding Assange's continued evasion of legal proceedings had been a factor in the decision. Police in London said he remains wanted for a lesser offense.

Originally posted on May 19, 2017, at 2:24 a.m.
Updated on May 19, 2017, at 3:05 a.m.
Francis Whittaker
Francis Whittaker
BuzzFeed News Reporter
James Ball
James Ball
BuzzFeed Special Correspondent

Sweden has dropped its seven-year old rape investigation against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the country's prosecutor said Friday.

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BREAKING: Sweden has dropped its case against Julian Assange and will revoke its arrest warrant

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2:05 AM - 19 May 2017
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In a statement, Sweden's public prosecution service said its director Marianne Ny "has today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape (lesser degree) by Julian Assange," adding more information would be given at a press conference on Friday.

In a note sent to the Stockholm District Court, Ny said she had withdrawn the decision to arrest Assange, and discontinued the preliminary investigation.

Significantly, she said Assange’s failure to show up in Sweden and likely future non-cooperation were important factors in her decision, noting “the risk Julian Assange would evade have legal proceedings against him” had been of “continued importance”.

“[T]hat to continue with legal proceedings would require Julian Assange’s personal appearance in court, there is no longer any reason to continue with this investigation,” her note concludes.
London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement that they remain obliged to execute a warrant for Assange issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court following his failure to surrender to the court in 2012, and Assange "remains wanted for a much less serious offence."

Shortly after the news was announced, Assange tweeted this picture:

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Julian Assange @JulianAssange
2:15 AM - 19 May 2017
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The case against Assange began in the summer of 2010, soon after WikiLeaks published the Afghan War Logs leaked by Chelsea Manning. Two WikiLeaks supporters alleged Assange had failed to use a condom during sex without their consent, and one said he had penetrated her as she slept.

Assange was arrested and given bail by Sweden, but refused to return to the country for questioning and possible charging.

After losing a series of legal appeals against extradition up to the UK supreme court, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 and claimed asylum. Assange has long insisted his stay in the Ecuadorian embassy is unrelated to the Swedish case, but instead related to possible extradition to the USA in connection with WikiLeaks’ activities.

Swedish prosecutors pursued a number of allegations of rape and sexual assault, though the sexual assault charges were dropped due to statute of limitation rules in 2015, leaving only a single charge remaining by the time Assange was finally questioned in the Ecuadorian embassy last year.

In February, BuzzFeed News revealed Swedish prosecutors had finally obtained transcripts of his interview from Ecuadorian authorities, but that these answers – which Assange had given in English – had all been translated into Spanish. The prosecuting authority then had to spend weeks re-translating the interviews before evaluating it and reaching its eventual decision to drop the case.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.


Francis Whittaker is a homepage editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in London.
Contact Francis Whittaker at francis.whittaker@buzzfeed.com.
James Ball is a special correspondent for BuzzFeed News and is based in London. PGP: here
Contact James Ball at James.Ball@buzzfeed.com.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2017/may/19/julian-assange-rape-inquiry-dropped-live

Julian Assange rape inquiry dropped but UK police say arrest warrant still stands - live

Metropolitan police in London say arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder, who is holed up in Ecuadorian embassy, still stands
News story: Swedish prosecutors drop Assange rape investigation
Timeline: Julian Assange and Sweden’s prosecutors

Julian Assange addresses the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in February 2016.
Julian Assange addresses the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in February 2016. Photograph: Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images

12
Jon Henley
@jonhenley
Friday 19 May 2017 06.05 EDT

15s ago
11:12
My colleague Peter Walker has a handy timeline of the near seven-year standoff between Assange and the Swedish authorities that began when he was invited to address a seminar in Stockholm in August 2010 and reportedly had sex with two women who subsequently expressed concerns about the encounters.

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7m ago
06:05
Assange posted a this picture on his personal Twitter account shortly after the Swedist prosecutor’s surprise announcement:

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Julian Assange @JulianAssange
2:15 AM - 19 May 2017
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12m ago
06:00
As my colleague Esther Addley notes in the Guardian’s initial news story on the surprise Swedish announcement, Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 after losing court battles to avoid extradition to Sweden over the claims, which he has always denied.

While the Stockholm decision potentially allows the 45-year-old Australian to leave the embassy, his lawyers have repeatedly said that he would not do so without assurances that he will not face extradition to the US over possible espionage charges, linked to Wikileaks’ publishing activities.

The Metropolitan police statement said a warrant for the arrest of Assange still stands following his failure to surrender to the court on 29 June 2012, adding the service “is obliged to execute the warrant should he leave the embassy”.

Updated at 6.03am EDT
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17m ago
05:56
Prosecutors in Sweden have said they are dropping a preliminary investigation into an allegation of rape against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

More details are expected at a press conference later today, but the country’s director of public prosecutions, Marianne Ny, said in a statement this morning she had “today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape (lesser degree) by Julian Assange”.

Shortly after the Swedish announcement, the Metropolitan police in London issued a statement confirming a warrant for the arrest of Assange still stands following his failure to surrender to the court on 29 June 2012.

We’ll bring you the latest developments as we get them.

Swedish prosecutors drop Julian Assange rape investigation
Sweden’s director of public prosecution says she has decided to discontinue the investigation into WikiLeaks founder
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Updated at 6.00am EDT
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[Melodi]

I am starting to wonder if a helicopter can land or hover above the embassy with a basket or something? Fly him and the ambassador to a boat on the open sea or transfer onto an Ecuadorian airline?

The man is NOT an American, so he is not a "traitor" to the United States, let him go into exile already; otherwise this is likely to get really nasty; and yes Equador is a very small country but I know a few years ago the Brits actually were in "discussions" about storming their embassy anyway; once that "game" starts no embassy is safe and the world over diplomacy goes into freefall overnight.

Let the man go to Equador and the US convince THEIR government that he's a problem (or not)...

 

[thompson]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...ops-rape-investigation-wikileaks-assange.html

Swedish prosecutor drops rape investigation of Wikileaks' Assange

Published May 19, 2017

Sweden's top prosecutor said Friday that she is dropping the seven-year investigation into a rape claim against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after almost seven years.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement Friday that the prosecutor, Marianne Ny, "has decided to discontinue the investigation."

Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sex-crime allegations from two women. He has been there ever since, fearing that if he is arrested he might ultimately be extradited to the United States.

Moments after the announcement, Assange's Twitter account posted a photo of him smiling.

pic.twitter.com/dDvB1Vekhg
— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) May 19, 2017

Friday's announcement means Assange is no longer under any investigation in Sweden. British police said before the announcement that Assange is still wanted in Britain for jumping bail. Assange will face arrest if he leaves Ecuadorean embassy in London, U.K. police said.

Media reports in the U.S. say that prosecutors are preparing or are considering charges against the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, including its founder Julian Assange, for revealing sensitive government secrets.

The Washington Post reported last month that prosecutors are weighing charges against the organization's members after the Obama-era Justice Department declined to do so.

 

[Be Well]

Shortly after the Swedish announcement, the Metropolitan police in London issued a statement confirming a warrant for the arrest of Assange still stands following his failure to surrender to the court on 29 June 2012.

So what charges were there to bring him to court in 2012? The Swedish one or something else? Crazy.

ETA:

Friday's announcement means Assange is no longer under any investigation in Sweden. British police said before the announcement that Assange is still wanted in Britain for jumping bail. Assange will face arrest if he leaves Ecuadorean embassy in London, U.K. police said.

Is it jumping bail or something else?

I certainly hope the US doesn't bring charges against him!

 

[Meadowlark]

Remember that he was the darling of the liberal left when he was exposing the dirty little secrets of the Bush administration. That is until he started posting the dirty little secrets of the Obama administration. Funny how that works.

 

[Terriannie]

At this point, I don't trust anything tptb do nowadays.

How strange that this is so soon after the resurgence of DNC/Hillary/Podesta Wikileak contributor, Seth Rich's murder/robbery story and the on again/off again coverage of it.

 

[Flippper]

My understanding of the original wikileaks dump was that it didn't contain top secret info, merely "embarrassing" emails and such, several of which revealed what a scuzzy turdball hitlery is and what she was saying behind foreign leaders' backs. Putin in particular. I believe that is why she discussed killing him, a narcissist scorned and all that.

As to the rape charges, I just recently went through a bunch of witness statements on that, one of the women was a groupie of his, and when he lost interest she filed charges. That said, sex crimes in Sweden are much, much more stringent than in the USA, a man could sneeze at the wrong time and it would be considered sexual assault. The two women both charged that a condom broke and later claimed it was done on purpose. That was apparently the main crimes he was charged with.

I think it's interesting that in the last 2 days, the fellow who claimed Seth Rich had texted/emailed 44,000 documents to wikileaks suddenly says he was lying, Weiner is getting a slap on the wrist with no further mention of the 650,000 emails on his computer and now Sweden is dropping charges against Assange after 7 years.

 

[SAPPHIRE]

a tangled web for sure................

 

[The Traveler]

My understanding of the original wikileaks dump was that it didn't contain top secret info, merely "embarrassing" emails and such, several of which revealed what a scuzzy turdball hitlery is and what she was saying behind foreign leaders' backs. Putin in particular. I believe that is why she discussed killing him, a narcissist scorned and all that.

As to the rape charges, I just recently went through a bunch of witness statements on that, one of the women was a groupie of his, and when he lost interest she filed charges. That said, sex crimes in Sweden are much, much more stringent than in the USA, a man could sneeze at the wrong time and it would be considered sexual assault. The two women both charged that a condom broke and later claimed it was done on purpose. That was apparently the main crimes he was charged with.

I think it's interesting that in the last 2 days, the fellow who claimed Seth Rich had texted/emailed 44,000 documents to wikileaks suddenly says he was lying, Weiner is getting a slap on the wrist with no further mention of the 650,000 emails on his computer and now Sweden is dropping charges against Assange after 7 years.

I haven't seen where the investigator lied. Can you point me to that?