Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
jackofkent.com
Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#2This is now a prime example in what happens when politics gets involved with justice. The police interviewed everyone involved, including Assange. The district chief prosecutor looked at it and concluded to drop it. Almost a month later, even through there had been no new information available, the political assigned director of Public Prosecution decided to reopen the case and immediately issues a international arrest warrant for Assange who by then had left the country. Assange then later goes into political refugee, while prosecutor refuses to continue with the case for political reasons, which then created a deadlock. A Swedish judge then order the prosecutor to continue with the case, but by then its too late to start diplomatic negotiations to get into the embassy and the case falls through to the statue of limitations.
If the choice had been between the possibility of incompetent police and prosecutor that might cause a criminal go free, or the political mess above, I rather go with the first option. The accused, the potential victims, and the tax payers has all been suffering from this case and the only beneficiary aspect has been the diplomatic relation between Sweden and US. That outcome should be a clear sign that justice and politics do not belong together.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#3Regardless of what you think of Assange (personal take: flawed personality but ultimately heroic)...
Regardless of what you think of the charges against him (personal take: No way to know for sure, but gut feel is he made poor choices and wound up in the grey area of undesired sexual experiences that our society is currently struggling with how to properly define. In our natural humane desire to protect potential victims we are defaulting to deeming it "sexual assault", but the reality is more complex as the assaulter is not even fully aware of their state)...
You have to admit it's super fucked up that Sweden is unable to charge someone with a crime if they can't interview them first? What if the suspect is a non-communitative deaf mute?
Seems like some law should be changed somewhere.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#4This is now a prime example in what happens when politics gets involved with justice. The police interviewed everyone involved, including Assange. The district chief prosecutor looked at it and concluded to drop it. Almost a month later, even through there had been no new information available, the political assigned director of Public Prosecution decided to reopen the case and immediately issues a international arre…
I completely agree with your point in the specific case, but completely disagree in general.
Justice IS political. Justices either run for office as political public figures or are appointed by political public figures. The justice system is an attempt to apply a subset of morality for the betterment of society, which is ultimately a subjective political exercise.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#5Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly.
I haven't seen any plausible reason why the prosecutor couldn't question him in London, especially given the exceptional circumstances of the case.
edit: Yes, I have seen the reasons put forward by the SPA mentioned in the article, but these complications were easily foreseeable and it is clear the Swedish prosecutor did not allow enough time to resolve them. Indeed the prosecutor claimed until this march (at which point she changed her mind) that it would be completely impossible to interview Assange at the embassy.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#6Disappointing, but at least they might still be able to nail him for the remaining rape charge.
Hopefully his victims will eventually be able to see justice, despite his cowering behind the walls of the Ecuadorian embassy with spurious claims of political asylum.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#7Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly. I haven't seen any plausible reason why the prosecutor couldn't question him in London, especially given the exceptional circumstances of the case. edit: Yes, I have seen the reasons put forward by the SPA me…
The only exceptional circumstance is Assange's arrogant assertion that he deserves special treatment. No reason why the Swedish justice system should kowtow to his demands.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#8Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly. I haven't seen any plausible reason why the prosecutor couldn't question him in London, especially given the exceptional circumstances of the case. edit: Yes, I have seen the reasons put forward by the SPA me…
This is covered in the article. Sweden has now (as of March) said they would be willing to interview in London.
http://www.aklagare.se/In-English/Media/News-in-English1/The...
http://www.thelocal.se/20150618/swedish-prosecutor-cancels-a...
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#9Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly. I haven't seen any plausible reason why the prosecutor couldn't question him in London, especially given the exceptional circumstances of the case. edit: Yes, I have seen the reasons put forward by the SPA me…
The article covered that about half way down - the short version is that the Swedish authorities tried to interview him in London but Ecuador wouldn't let him be interviewed by the Swedish authorities unless Sweden agreed on a pre-condition that they couldn't lawfully agree to.
> In March 2015, however, the SPA changed its position and requested to interview Assange in London. A spokesperson for Assange welcomed the development and said Assange wanted to be interviewed.
> This was followed in June 2015 by a formal request to the English and Ecuadorean authorities.
> But the SPA were not able to proceed as Ecuador did not give the requisite permissions. The trip to London by a Swedish prosecutor had to be abandoned.
Re: Assange, the law of limitation, and the next eight days
#10Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly. I haven't seen any plausible reason why the prosecutor couldn't question him in London, especially given the exceptional circumstances of the case. edit: Yes, I have seen the reasons put forward by the SPA me…
> Pretty outrageous that the prosecutor hasn't questioned him in London by now. This has been a huge police cost and is a great disservice to the alleged victims who would surely want the case to progress quickly.
Which is Assange's fault, as he's fleeing justice at the same time as demanding others face justice.
I can't stand the hypocritical bastard, he's damaged his movement more than anyone else ever could.