[pp.int.general] How rape laws get abused

[Nicolas Sahlqvist]

There is indeed a point with Axelsson's statement, in Swedish media the
defense is that we have a stricter view on what is called rape /
sexual assault and this is why the analyze toward other countries statistics
are failing. This is some truth in that, if a couple in Sweden had rough sex
and tells a 3rd person who decides to report it to the police the guy can
get convicted of rape and if you meet a girl who is drunk, has even a slight
mental issue such as depression etc, you are in big shit because she could
is not in a state to say no. Besides this we have another view of
prostitution where it is seen as rape where our justice minister (Beatrice
Ask) said a couple of months back:

"We should send out pink envelopes to suspects families and inform them that
there father went to a prostitute, it is good for the daughter to know what
kind of father she has.. We don't have the resources to prosecute them all
so this is a good prevention method."

So where did the innocent until proven guilty went with this statement? She
violated the basic rule that justice is based on and refused to change her
point of view for a week despite massive critics from media and political
parties, among them PPSE. I think these kind of statements are affecting how
the prosecution office works.

They are constantly making the view and laws stricter, moving the line
between what is allowed to a point where one suggestion was that you would
need to sign a contract from both parties having sex.. Not sure what that
would prove in a court of law, but it's kinda obvious that you can use
strict laws to accuse someone of a assault that never took place in the
first place. Actually one of the claimed victims in the Assange rape case
wrote a blog entry how to legally revenge on old partners etc. where she
says "be creative" so this will for sure not help her case if it comes to
court..

It is kinda obvious that this is a political game to show that Sweden is
prosecuting suspected sex offenders by leaking the names of celebrities
suspected of such crimes to the media despite the strict rules on privacy in
such cases. I'm questioning there lack of experience when trying to use a
European Arrest Warrant (EAW) instead of working together with the UK police
when he is just a suspect. The use of a EAW is defined:

"An EAW can only be issued for the purposes of conducting a criminal
prosecution (not merely an investigation), or enforcing a custodial
sentence."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Arrest_Warrant

It does however seem that different EU states have different ways
to interpret the treaty, but they could of have discussed it with UK before
wasting tax payers money and put Sweden's international reputation into
question by articles in The Guardian from Sarah Ludford, MEP:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/14/european-arrest-warrant-julian-assange?INTCMP=SRCH

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/14/european-arrest-warrant-julian-assange?INTCMP=SRCH>She
mentions the case of Balazs Asztalos from Szekszard, Hungary who is
suspected of raping a 4 year old girl where the high court confirmed that it
is not a legitimate purpose for an EAW to be used to conduct an
investigation to see whether that person should be prosecuted. This blog
outlines the problems within EU of investigating crimes where a suspected
fled to another EU country:

http://dean1986.blogspot.com/2009/06/scandal-of-migrant-criminals-how-legal.html

It is clear that a EAW would never work from UK at least so I share
Moore, Axelsson and Ludford's opinion that this is clearly a political game
of some sort. Perhaps to show that Sweden is doing something against sex
offenders and/or in connection to smear the reputation of Assange and
indirectly Wikileaks due to diplomatic pressure where I tend to think this
paints the picture:

http://satwcomic.com/art/leaking.jpg


- Nicolas


On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Pat Maechler v/o Valio <pirate at valio.ch>wrote:

> I think Michael Moore made an excellent summary, about the aspect of the
> rape allegations against Julian Assange and the prosecution, which I would
> like to mention on this list
>
> http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/dear-government-of-sweden
>
> I especially like this quote from Katrin Axelsson:
> There is a long tradition of the use of rape and sexual assault for
> political agendas that have nothing to do with women's safety. [...] Women
> don't take kindly to our demand for safety being misused, while rape
> continues to be neglected at best or protected at worst.
>
> -pat
> ____________________________________________________
> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
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