Rape Probe Against WikiLeaks Founder Reopened

(AP)  A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.

Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks — an online whistle-blower that has angered Washington by publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The case was dismissed last week by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Assange, an Australian citizen, had raped a Swedish woman who had reported him to police.

The woman's lawyer appealed the decision. Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny decided to reopen the case Wednesday, saying new information had come in on Tuesday.

"We went through all the case material again, including what came in, and that's when I made my decision," to reopen the case, Ny told The Associated Press by phone.

She declined to say what new information she had received or whether Assange, who was questioned by investigators on Monday, would be arrested.

An arrest warrant issued Aug. 20 was withdrawn within 24 hours amid the back-and-forth between prosecutors.

Ny said "it's not entirely uncommon" that such reversals take place in Sweden, in particular regarding allegations of sex crimes.

Ny also decided that another complaint against Assange should be investigated on suspicion of "sexual coercion and sexual molestation." That overruled a previous decision to only investigate the case as "molestation," which is not a sex offense under Swedish law.

Investigators have not released details about either case, though a police report obtained by the AP shows both women had met Assange in connection with a seminar he gave in Stockholm on Aug. 14. The report shows the women filed their complaints together six days later.

Wikileaks made headlines around the world July 25 when it released tens of thousands of pages of secret U.S. documents about Afghanistan.

Assange is seeking legal protection for WikiLeaks in Sweden, one of the countries where the group says it has servers. The Swedish Migration Board has confirmed that Assange has applied for a work and residence permit in the Scandinavian country.

Assange did not immediately respond to the rape case being reopened, and his defense lawyer Leif Silbersky didn't answer calls seeking comment.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said the group backs Assange.

"We hope that he will clear his name and meanwhile the WikiLeaks organization is going on with its endeavors," Hrafnsson told AP.

WikiLeaks says it intends to publish 15,000 more Afghan war documents in coming weeks, a disclosure that U.S. officials say could endanger innocent people or confidential informants.

Claes Borgstrom, a lawyer who represents both women, welcomed the decision Wednesday.

"This is a redress for my clients, I have to say, because they have been dragged through the mud on the Internet, for having made things up or intending to frame Assange," Borgstrom said.

Borgstrom had previously dismissed rumors that the sex allegations were part of a conspiracy against Assange, saying "There is not an ounce of truth in all this about Pentagon, or the CIA, or smear campaigns, nothing like it."

[grayfrier]

Huh Maybe we should wait for the full investigation to complete to hang this guy.
After all in America one is Innocent until proven guilty.
And no I do not like what he did with his leaking Names of those helping the US I liken him to Collaborators they are Traitors and if he had spilled those papers about Austria believe me he'd be thrown so far into a dungeon nobody would hear of him again.
What I can't understand is why he has not leaked the papers he got on the English or the French or the Germans or his own People just on the US strange if he was a true beliver in what he spouts then why hide the rest ?

[maistir]

Sadly, those who flout some parts of criminal law (theft of computer materials; theft of secrets) made by democracies rather than challenge them in the courts tend to be arrogant and to believe that no part of the criminal law constrains them. But Assange ought not to be tried in the media and is as innocent as the day he was born in the absence of evidence submitted to a jury in court.

[Myopinion046]

If he did it, then, prosecute him for that and leaking those documents.

[GunsInTheSky]

This guy makes America look bad and for good reason.

Of course the top guys in the States and the top guys in Sweden are working together to find some way to punish this guy.

Let's not hide nor hide from the truth.

[Brokennews]

It's obvious that the military & security agencies want this guy shut down.
Maybe this rape thing is an attempt at that & maybe it isn't.
With all the resources available to them, it would seem that there would be better, more diabolical ways to do that!

[patocc123]

This is either.

1. Political pressure to get charges against him for the security leaks.

2. A tripped ego of invinsibility due to standing up to the US Government that lead to the criminal act.

3. He is just a rapist.

4. This is an effect of being famous now where someone is trying to get rich quick.

Either way the left on these boards will proclaim his innocence and the right will want him to be hanged and proclaim the Roman Polanski syndrome the left have.

[rightbehind]

LOL! This guy hardly looks like someone who would force himself on another. The charges are garbage.

[patocc123]

Yeah cause you can judge people actions by the way to look. I guess only unsavory looking people rape people.

Curious if you used that same logic for the duke lacross team. Cause they all looked like clean cut individuals too.

[voxpopulus]

Well they were not guilty, remember?