Sweden has decided to drop the rape investigation into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
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But the Wikileaks founder responded angrily in a tweet: "Detained for 7 years without charge... while my children grew up and my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget."
Prosecutors in Sweden reopened a rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a month after he was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and after a U.S. extradition request over computer hacking charges.
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As part of the probe, prosecutors renewed an extradition request for Assange, raising a competing claim that could frustrate attempts to see him stand trial in the U.S. It is not clear which extradition request will take priority, said Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, during a news conference in Stockholm.
Former "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson visited her friend Julian Assange in a London prison on Tuesday. After the visit, she told journalists outside the facility that the WikiLeaks founder "does not deserve to be in a supermax prison."
Yeah! It's not like he s a flight risk, or anything!
Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of violating the Espionage Act, bringing against him a new, 18-count indictment alleging he unlawfully obtained and disclosed national defense information.
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Assange was previously indicted by a U.S. grand jury over his interactions in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who shared hundreds of thousands of classified war logs and diplomatic papers with WikiLeaks. If convicted, Assange faced a maximum of five years in prison under that conspiracy charge. The new charges carry with them a maximum possible sentence of 170 years in prison.
But the new charges against Assange carry potential consequences not just for him, but for others who publish classified information, and could change the delicate balance in U.S. law between press freedom and government secrecy. They also raises fresh questions about whether the British courts will view the new charges as justified and worthy of extradition.
Prosecutors alleged in the new indictment that Assange and WikiLeaks “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it” and give it to the anti-secrecy organization, posting on its website a “most wanted” list for leaks organized by country and saying the documents must be “likely to have political, diplomatic, ethical or historical impact on release.” They alleged that Manning responded to that clarion call, downloading nearly four completely government databases of war reports, Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and State Department cables and turned them over to WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors in Sweden have dropped an investigation into a rape allegation made against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange in 2010.
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The Swedish investigation had been shelved in 2017 but was re-opened earlier this year following his eviction from the embassy.
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Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Eva-Marie Persson took the decision to "discontinue the investigation regarding Julian Assange", the Swedish Prosecution Authority said.
"The reason for this decision is that the evidence has weakened considerably due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question," it added.
Ms Persson said: "I would like to emphasise that the injured party has submitted a credible and reliable version of events.
"Her statements have been coherent, extensive and detailed; however, my overall assessment is that the evidential situation has been weakened to such an extent that that there is no longer any reason to continue the investigation."
Separately, the prosecutors held a news briefing in the Swedish capital Stockholm, saying that the decision to drop the inquiry had been taken after interviews with seven witnesses in the case.
A British court has denied a request from U.S. officials to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on charges of illegally obtaining and sharing classified material related to national security. The judge cited the risk of suicide if Assange is sent to U.S. custody.
"I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America," British Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser said in her decision Monday.
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A psychiatrist who analyzed Assange in a London prison told Baraitser that Assange was at a high risk of suicide if he ended up incarcerated in the U.S.
Assange was diagnosed in December 2019 with recurrent depressive disorder, which was at times severe, and sometimes accompanied by hallucinations and often with thoughts of suicide, Baraitser wrote in her opinion.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied permission to appeal at Britain's Supreme Court against a decision to extradite him to the United States, the court said on Monday.
While Assange's extradition must still be approved by the government, Monday's decision deals a serious blow to Assange's effort to fight his deportation from Britain in the courts.
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In December, the High Court in London overturned a lower court's ruling that he should not be extradited because his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide, and on Monday the Supreme Court itself said it would not hear a challenge to that ruling.
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:46 pm
Suicide? With all the shit he knows about Russian dirty tricks, he better be worried about poison.
Yeah, suicide by Russian sponsored assassin seems probable in this climate.
Ironically, in that respect, he'd be much safer in the United States.
I dunno. Putin got to that guy in London, and ended up killing a British citizen instead. Nothing much happened as a result IIRC. I would not put it past him to take someone out on US soil, even obviously.
I think Assange's personal danger increases if he gets greenlit to be extradited, bc that means he will be spilling the beans to the US authorities. Putin likley does not want that to happen. OTOH, we already know what happened...and surely Putin knows we know, and still nothing really done about it, so he might not care after all.
