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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally being questioned by prosecutors more than six years after he was first accused of rape in Sweden.
Ingrid Isgren, Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy this morning, according to The Guardian, ending a stalemate which began in 2012 when the South American nation offered Assange political asylum on the grounds that he faced political persecution from the United States.
Assange claims that the rape accusations, which he denies, are part of a plot to extradite him to the United States that would swing into action were he to answer prosecutors' questions in the Scandinavian country.
The interview suggests some forward movement is being made in the diplomatic deadlock between Ecuador and Sweden regarding the arrangements for Swedish prosecutors to talk to Assange in the embassy.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:47AM
"he should be free to depart the UK,"
Yes, should be - but probably won't be. The UK can and will probably come up with some charges, like evading arrest, contempt of court, and maybe worse. If Sweded drops the whole thing, there will be some offended officials in the UK who will want Snowden punished. They can probably come up with a long list of charges based on obscure and obsolete laws in addition to the obvious charges we might think of. Technically speaking he did "skip bail".
Whatever silliness is going on here, I believe Assange is likely to be snatched and transported to a black site at the earliest opportunity. The US and UK are extremely unlikely to allow him his freedom. Sweden is just playing a bit part in this charade, at the behest of the US.
Everyone should note that the media has blown those original charges way out of proportion. Both of the women have been interviewed, and both women have clearly stated that THERE WAS NO RAPE. Assange may or may not be guilty of some far lesser offense than rape. And, I mean far, far lesser offense. It seems he broke some kind of societal taboo, for which he might expect to pay a small fine, make a public apology, then go his way. Nothing more than a traffic ticket, really. No rape occurred in either instance. Those are the words of the women involved in this kangaroo media trial.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:00AM
"he should be free to depart the UK,"
Yes, should be - but probably won't be.
Yeah which airspace would be safe for him to use?
If they can do this for Snowden it's not out of the question they might do similar stuff for Assange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident [wikipedia.org]
Keep in mind they don't even do this sort of thing for convicted murderers and pedophiles.