Placement in detention or not? The Swedish court must decide this Monday 3rd June, 2019 on the fate of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, suspected of rape.
Swedish justice pronounces Monday, June 3, 2019 on possible detention by default of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange , prosecuted for alleged rape committed in Sweden in 2010 and detained in London, prelude to the issuance of a warrant European arrest .
The decision of the judges will be an important step since if the detention is accepted, the prosecution has indicated its intention to issue a European arrest warrant in order to obtain the transfer to Sweden of Julian Assange from the United Kingdom, where he is currently locked up.
The hearing is scheduled at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) at the court in Uppsala (east), before a decision announced in stride.
Read also: Sweden: Justice relaunches prosecution for rape against Julian Assange
He always denies the facts
In mid-May, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation Eva-Marie Persson had announced the reopening of the investigation for rape against Julian Assange, 47, after his arrest in London on April 11th .
A week later, the public prosecutor’s office had asked for his detention in his absence – a legal procedure in Sweden – “on suspicion of rape”.
The arrest of Julian Assange in Great Britain, followed by the reopening of the investigation in Sweden, had revived the hope of the complainant and her lawyer to see the founder of WikiLeaks handed over to the Scandinavian country, with a view to trial before the prescription expires in August 2020.
Thirty years old at the material time, the complainant accuses the Australian of having sex during her sleep and without a condom, while she refused him any unprotected sex at all times.
For her part, Assange has always denied the facts, and maintains that she was consenting and agreed not to use a condom.
He was also the subject of a sexual assault complaint at the same time, but it was hit by the prescription in 2015.
“Psychological torture”
The reopening of the Swedish investigation aimed at the Australian revived a judicial soap opera that has lasted for almost a decade during which Julian Assange and his supporters have repeatedly denounced a maneuver intended to extradite him to the United States. United.
The United States accuses the Australian of endangering some of its sources when WikiLeaks published in 2010 in 2010 250,000 diplomatic cables and about 500,000 confidential documents relating to the activities of the US military. Iraq and Afghanistan. They also accuse him of “plotting” with former military analyst Chelsea Manning, behind this unprecedented escape.
US justice indicted Julian Assange on May 23rd under anti-espionage laws .
Read also: Julian Assange sentenced to one year in prison
It is officially to avoid extradition to the United States that the Australian had fled in 2012 to the Embassy of Ecuador in London. In his absence, and unable to advance the investigation, the Swedish justice had abandoned the prosecution in May 2017.
But following an extradition request by the United States, Julian Assange was handed over on April 11 to the British authorities who immediately imprisoned him and sentenced to a 50-week jail term on May 1 for violation. conditions of his provisional liberty.
According to Ms Persson, “in the event of a conflict between the European Arrest Warrant and an extradition request from the United States, the British authorities will decide on the order of priority”.
“The outcome of this process is impossible to predict.”
The extradition hearing demanded by the United States was to be held last Thursday, but was postponed until the week of June 12 – lawyers Julian Assange argued that he was in poor health.
A UN rapporteur said Friday that Julian Assange presented “all the symptoms (of) psychological torture” to which he was exposed “for several years”.
The rapporteur felt that if he were to be extradited to the United States, he “would be exposed to a real risk of serious violations of his human rights, including freedom of expression and expression”.
