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:<div>
<br></div><div>"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."</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br><div>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..<div>
<div><br></div><div>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:</div>
<div><br></div><div>"An EAW can only be issued for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution (not merely an investigation), or enforcing a custodial sentence."</div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Arrest_Warrant">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Arrest_Warrant</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>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:</div>
<div><br></div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><a href="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</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/14/european-arrest-warrant-julian-assange?INTCMP=SRCH"></a>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:</div>
<div><br></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><a href="http://dean1986.blogspot.com/2009/06/scandal-of-migrant-criminals-how-legal.html">http://dean1986.blogspot.com/2009/06/scandal-of-migrant-criminals-how-legal.html</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>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:</div>
<div><br></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><a href="http://satwcomic.com/art/leaking.jpg">http://satwcomic.com/art/leaking.jpg</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>- Nicolas</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Pat Maechler v/o Valio <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pirate@valio.ch">pirate@valio.ch</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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<br>
<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/dear-government-of-sweden" target="_blank">http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/dear-government-of-sweden</a><br>
<br>
I especially like this quote from Katrin Axelsson:<br>
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.<br>
<br>
-pat<br>
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