‘I was targeted after I made Assange sex crime claim’ says accuser of Wikileaks founder

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100. Let US and Sweden take extradition off the table

This will prove that the Swedish prosecutor's only desire is to bring Assange to justice over a rape accusation, not as an extralegal means to bring him to the US. The witnesses most certainly will face tough questions in court about their actions and subsequent motivations for pressing charges against him. This is not an open and shut case. False rape accusations are a very serious crime in my mind. I have spent time as an advocate for women who had been sexually assaulted. This allegation does not fit the definition of rape in my opinion. There was no assault or threat made. The victims did not report the alleged crime. They continued to allow Assange to stay in their homes. One of the alleged victims had breakfast with him the next morning without even mentioning his "crime." So what are the damages? No one got an STD. No one got pregnant. No one was physically harmed. A condom was torn. There was no police report for almost a week after. The two women changed their stories after consulting with each other, and they further conspired to try and profit off their case. They have credibility problems that make them problematic witnesses. Also the US and Sweden have done nothing to make it clear the charges are not politically motivated. If you were on a jury, how would you decide? Me? I could not vote to convict under the circumstances.

"We understand that both complainants admit to having initiated consensual sexual relations with Mr Assange. They do not complain of any physical injury. The first complainant did not make a complaint for six days (in which she hosted the respondent in her flat [actually her bed] and spoke in the warmest terms about him to her friends) until she discovered he had spent the night with the other complainant.

"The second complainant, too, failed to complain for several days until she found out about the first complainant: she claimed that after several acts of consensual sexual intercourse, she fell half asleep and thinks that he ejaculated without using a condom – a possibility about which she says they joked afterwards.

"Both complainants say they did not report him to the police for prosecution but only to require him to have an STD test. However, his Swedish lawyer has been shown evidence of their text messages which indicate that they were concerned to obtain money by going to a tabloid newspaper and were motivated by other matters including a desire for revenge."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange-sweden


Statement from Women Against Rape:

Whether or not Assange is guilty of sexual violence, we do not believe that is why he is being pursued. Once again women's fury and frustration at the prevalence of rape and other violence, is being used by politicians to advance their own purposes. The authorities care so little about violence against women that they manipulate rape allegations at will, usually to increase their powers, this time to facilitate Assange's extradition or even rendition to the US...Women Against Rape cannot ignore this threat...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/23/women-against-rape-julian-assange