SWEDEN/UK: Julian Assange's lawyer says the WikiLeaks founder will fight any extradition to Sweden over alegations of sexual misconduct

Record ID: 1533703

  • Title: SWEDEN/UK: Julian Assange's lawyer says the WikiLeaks founder will fight any extradition to Sweden over alegations of sexual misconduct
  • Date: 4th December 2010
  • Summary: .VARIOUS OF HURTIG READING THE NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2010 14:35
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Communications
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QGC7J3HZGK9VXOUPYCT7G2DE
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will fight any bid to extradite him to Sweden over sexual misconduct allegations, and suspects foreign powers are influencing the authorities, his Swedish lawyer said on Friday (December 3).
    The Swedish prosecutor's office said information needed for a European arrest warrant in the case had been supplied to Britain, where media reports say Assange is staying.
    Assange's lawyer Bjorn Hurtig said any attempt to extradite him from another country, for example from Britain, would be resisted in court:
    "We will fight an extradition to Sweden as vigorously as we can. (why?) Because he doesn't want to come here (Sweden), especially not now - one draws certain conclusions when Interpol, the day after WikiLeaks made their big leak, make public this arrest warrant for this kind of crime and this is why he doesn't want to come to Sweden as he can't help but suspect that some other country would want him to be extradited to that country - that Sweden is some kind of a middle station," he said.
    Assange has spent much of his time in Sweden lately and was accused earlier this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers.
    Prosecutors opened, then dropped, then reopened an investigation, but Assange has not been formally charged with any crime and denies any wrongdoing.
    Hurtig said Assange had made himself available to speak with Swedish authorities, including the prosecutor handling the case, at an embassy abroad, but this offer had been rejected. He also said Assange had earlier offered to travel to Sweden to answer questions but authorities could not make themselves available at any of the suggested times.
    Assange, whose organisation has embarrassed the United States government by publishing leaked confidential embassy reports, was taking precautions over recent death threats. This made him concerned about returning to Sweden.
    "We have wanted for him to be questioned both in Sweden and at an embassy abroad but they have not agreed to that so far. That he would come running here now, I don't know if that's feasible. Added to that, there are clear threats, according to the media at least, a threat against him so it's not so easy any more to just come forward and say 'here I am'.
    Hurtig said the measures taken by both Swedish and international authorities made him suspicious, though he said he did not suspect foul play from a foreign power with respect to the accusations.
    "I believe that - I don't think there was a conspiracy to start of with - if we're talking about some other country or intelligence agency - but I believe that there is a possibility that countries assert pressure on Sweden now and the reason why I think so is that Interpol took these, in my view, unproportional measures to make public the arrest warrant immediately after WikiLeaks have came with their latest disclosures," he said.
    "I think that pressure is being exerted but that is my personal view, my personal theory that it is exerted by a big nation across the Atlantic who feel wronged about the latest WikiLeaks leaks. But that is my personal view but I believe that I can say that my client shares that belief," Hurtig added.
    Hurtig declined to say where Assange was right now, or when he had last spoken to him, though he said they were in constant contact.
    "To that question you will get the same answer as all the others: I won't answer that question - in what way in which I contact him, when or how I do it - because I believe that people might try to get hold of him through me. What do I know? By keeping an eye one me, so I would rather not answer that question," he said.
    The 39-year-old Australian former computer hacker is understood to be in the UK.
    Assange's lawyer in the United Kingdom, Mark Stephens, on Friday (December 3) complained his client had yet to receive formal notice of the allegations he faces.
    "Ordinarily it is the prosecutor who does the pursuing and the really bothersome thing about this whole case is that (Wikileaks founder) Julian (Assange) has been doing the pursuing for several months now , saying: 'I'd like to meet the prosecutor, I'd like to talk to her', but the prosecutor ,as we stand here right now, has yet to offer to meet him, has yet to pick up the phone. She knows how to do that, so the question you have to ask yourself is 'Why would she run away from the opportunity to interview Julia in Stockholm, to meet him at a Swedish embassy, or indeed to do it by video conferencing where she records the evidence in Sweden, so Swedish evidence?' All of those are perfectly normal and proper approaches yet she has thrown them out of the window. This doesn't seem to be about an attempt to get at truth or justice, it seems to be a persecution, not a prosecution."
    The founder of the WikiLeaks website held an online question and answer session on Friday (Dec. 3) , having in recent days embarrassed the U.S. government by publishing confidential embassy reports.
    Julian Assange answered Guardian readers' questions on its website. The Guardian is one of a number of newspapers around the world with early access to material obtained by WikiLeaks.
    He said that he had expected clampdowns from countries that proclaimed the right to free speech.
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