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Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

reuters.com

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Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#81

Post by rich-tea »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #36
duchenne wrote: post #26

Assange is accused of unlawful coercion and "lesser-degree rape" (mindre grov våldtäkt). In the first case, the complainant willingly had an intercourse with him. But after sex, she realized that the condom had a hole. She claims that he made it. In the second case, the complainant also willingly had an intercourse with Assange, they slept naked together. The next day in the morning, he penetrated her without a condo…

If someone consents to have sex only on the condition of protection from disease and pregnancy, and you trick them into sex without a condom that is rape. There may be differences of degrees to the stereotypical violent behind-the-bushes rape. Those should and would be considered for purposes of sentencing. But it's still rape.

The continual broadening of the definition of rape will only dampen its impact and harm the few genuine victims of rape.

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#82

Post by lostjohnny »

olalonde wrote: post #51
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone consents to have sex only on the condition of protection from disease and pregnancy, and you trick them into sex without a condom that is rape. There may be differences of degrees to the stereotypical violent behind-the-bushes rape. Those should and would be considered for purposes of sentencing. But it's still rape.

> If someone consents to have sex only on the condition of protection from disease and pregnancy I had sex with a girl who lied about being on birth control. Was I raped?

(I see what you did there)

There's a little difference, you wouldn't be the one getting pregnant.

It's more like she lied about being HIV positive.

That is, in fact, a crime.

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#83

Post by GordonS »

I'm not sure why the charges keep being reported as "rape", when there's no suggestion he did any such thing. The charges relate to a Swedish law about not using a condom. The woman alleges that Assange removed the condom at some point during sex, without her consent to do so, and that she noticed afterwards.

Is it wrong? Yes, of course it is. Is it "rape"? No, but the media has repeated it often enough that now the general public think Assange is a rapist.

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#84

Post by SiempreViernes »

sedeki wrote: post #15
acallaghan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's because he's a rape suspect in Sweden - it's not a giant conspiracy or 'a grab', he's just a suspect that ran away from the law. The USA have already requested his extradition in the UK - to say that "Sweden only sought rape charges because then the USA can extradite him from Sweden" is clearly bogus. If he actually confronted these charges in Sweden, and found guilty, he may actually be out of prison by now.…

”And at the centre of all of this, that everyone seems to have forgotten, are these two women that have accused him of rape.” As far as I know, and at least Assange has claimed this publicly in a video at least once, these two women themselves did not make rape charges against Assange. The case was picked up by some prosecutor who initiated the charges.

They did in fact file rape charges, but as is common they didn't do it immediately but after talking about the event with friends.

They have also, wisely avoiding much of the media, enlisted a lawyer to speak on their behalf on the matter, and it was the lawyers filing that led to the investigation being reopened again.

For a pretty complete chronology, see this page on the Swedish prosecution authority: https://www.aklagare.se/en/news-and-press/media/the-assange-...

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#85

Post by turk73 »

sedeki wrote: post #22

Can someone explain to me why the general public has ”turned” on Assange in the last few years? Is it because Wikileaks revealed those Hillary Clinton emails? And that’s the ”protagonist” party? Or is it the rape accusations initiated in Sweden?

Who says the public has turned? Only the media has turned and they are promoting a particular narrative.

It's funny that so many powerful people are quaking in their boots over this guy. Guilty much? Assange is still alive. That tells me that what he has much be unbelievable political dynamite.

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#86

Post by lostjohnny »

rich-tea wrote: post #81
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone consents to have sex only on the condition of protection from disease and pregnancy, and you trick them into sex without a condom that is rape. There may be differences of degrees to the stereotypical violent behind-the-bushes rape. Those should and would be considered for purposes of sentencing. But it's still rape.

The continual broadening of the definition of rape will only dampen its impact and harm the few genuine victims of rape.

How so?

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#87

Post by basetop »

sedeki wrote: post #22

Can someone explain to me why the general public has ”turned” on Assange in the last few years? Is it because Wikileaks revealed those Hillary Clinton emails? And that’s the ”protagonist” party? Or is it the rape accusations initiated in Sweden?

When Assange exposed Bush/right, the journalists and leftists loved him and the right hated him. He won a bunch of journalist/humanitarian prizes. Now that Assange exposed Hillary/left, the journalists and leftists hate him.

24/7 anti-assange propaganda by foxnews, cnn, msnbc, nytimes, wapo, etc and you get the current anti-assange sentiment.

Trump hates him, Hillary hates him, the establishment hates him because he exposed corruption. Corrupt people don't like their corruption exposed. Also, the elites want to start wars in venezuela, syria, etc so punishing assange and setting an example and possibly discrediting/getting rid of wikileaks is in their interest. Wouldn't want truth to get in the way of more wars.

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#88

Post by cal97g »

WAHa_06x36 wrote: post #5
benevol wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you would think that. Nothing has changed recently, has it? Sweden has been in the US' pockets for a long time, just like the other main European countries such as the UK and Germany.

Is that why they are now trying to block his extradition to the US, then.

Source?

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#89

Post by JumpCrisscross »

mc32 wrote: post #72
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can someone explain to me why the general public has ”turned” on Assange in the last few years? I don't think the public has "turned" on him. (That is, I don't think he's more unpopular now than he was a year ago.) It's more like we forgot about him. That took away the teflon coating that let him escape international arrest warrants in a South American embassy, a privilege most of us wouldn't get. This story is bes…

I’m pretty sure just about everyone would interpret that as pre 2016 and post 2016 attitudes and not an arbitrary last year and this year.

> just about everyone would interpret that as pre 2016 and post 2016 attitudes and not an arbitrary last year and this year

A poll last month [1] found 73% of Americans have opinions on Wikileaks. The most common response for Julian Assange, on the other hand, was "don't know" (42%, versus 27% responding similarly for Wikileaks).

I'd guess the 38% who find Assange unfavorable is largely unchanged from, say, 2015. I'd also guess his favorability was higher in 2012. (That's what made Correa's political arithmetic around granting Assange asylum stick.)

Under this hypothesis, people didn't start hating Assange more in 2016. His base of supporters simply eroded until most didn't care about him either way. That turned him into a normal person. Normal people don't get to hang out in embassies all day.

[1] https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/20...

Re: Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

#90

Post by turk73 »

bjourne wrote: post #63
sedeki wrote: post #22

Can someone explain to me why the general public has ”turned” on Assange in the last few years? Is it because Wikileaks revealed those Hillary Clinton emails? And that’s the ”protagonist” party? Or is it the rape accusations initiated in Sweden?

Who is the general public? Clearly, him running away from the Swedish police was a bad thing to do. I also don't like him because he supported/supports Trump. However, prosecuting him for his journalistic work is insane!

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