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Swedish prosecutor has decided to discontinue the investigation against Julian Assange, who has been accused of sex crimes in Sweden. If this means that Julian is free to leave the embassy to go to Ecuador or not remains to be seen.
takyon: It does not mean that Assange is free to leave the embassy at this time, although his lawyer is asking for an arrest warrant to be dropped:
The London Metropolitan Police, however, made it clear in a statement that there is an outstanding arrest warrant for Assange. "Westminster Magistrates' Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Julian Assange following him failing to surrender to the court on the 29 June 2012. The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy," it read.
The maximum penalty for breaching bail is up to a year in prison or a fine.
The police also recognized that Assange is now "wanted for a much less serious offense" and said they would "provide a level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offense."
It remains unclear whether there is a standing U.S. extradition order for Assange. The policy of Britain's Home Office is to neither confirm nor deny extradition orders until such time as a person has been arrested in relation to an order. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was stepping up efforts to arrest Assange as part of a broader fight against those who leak secrets into the public domain.
Also at BBC and The Guardian.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cafebabe on Friday May 19 2017, @07:30PM (8 children)
So, he's wanted for resisting arrest? With no other charges pending?
1702845791×2
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Friday May 19 2017, @07:42PM (7 children)
It's a breach of bail conditions, not resisting arrest. Aside from that technical point, he is indeed wanted solely for skipping bail in relation to international charges that no longer exist.
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(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @07:57PM (6 children)
Is that a reason to give him a pass? If someone steals property that ends up being destroyed while he's being chased, do you drop the charges? And in this case, the international charges don't exist exactly because he breached his bail. I don't see how you can drop those charges
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 19 2017, @08:12PM (2 children)
That's up to the Brits. They have blown a fair chunk of change watching Assange. If they want to continue to pursue Assange's arrest, that's up to them. Assange could be persuaded to surrender himself if the lawyers get together and take extradition off the table. However the cynically minded will note that the embassy stay has given Assange a lot of free publicity and that he may want the current situation to continue indefinitely.
From the article:
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(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday May 19 2017, @10:34PM
AC> And in this case, the international charges don't exist exactly because he breached his bail.
I see congruence between what the AC wrote and what the prosecutor said:
Significantly, [prosecutor Marianne Ny] said Assange’s failure to show up in Sweden and likely future noncooperation were important factors in her decision, noting that “the risk Julian Assange would evade having legal proceedings against him” had been of “continued importance”.
-- https://www.buzzfeed.com/franciswhittaker/sweden-has-dropped-its-case-against-julian-assange [buzzfeed.com]
From the BBC article linked from the summary:
Why has the case been dropped?
At a press briefing on Friday, Sweden's top prosecutor Marianne Ny said that by remaining in the embassy in London Mr Assange had evaded the exercise of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) that would have seen him extradited to Sweden.
She said that under Swedish law a criminal investigation needed to be conducted "as quickly as possible".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:40AM
They're also trying to blame Ecuador for their own unwillingness to follow their own laws, rules, and guidelines regarding questioning. Assange has offered to do the questioning there with investigators visiting the UK or over the phone. Both are established practice for Swedish investigations. The Swedish Prosecution Authority has consistently avoided doing so or even admitting that it is their practice to do so.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Friday May 19 2017, @08:14PM (2 children)
A more accurate analogy would be chasing a guy for shoplifting, the merchandise gets destroyed, and then they find out while he's still on the run that he paid for it in the first place.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @03:55PM (1 child)
And that he raped a couple of women too.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday May 22 2017, @02:32PM
Allegedly raped, then they dropped the charges. So legally, no he didn't.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"