Tuesday, 1 November 2011

A fair trial for Assange?

Here is a sample of "juridical" irregularities - viewed from international standards - concerning the Swedish administration of Justice and particularly referred to the Swedish case against Julian Assange:


  • Sweden has a judiciary system in which judges participating in the courts are appointed by the political parties (there is not Jury-system in Sweden, neither exists in Sweden the institution of bail).
  • Sweden allows secret, "close-doors" trials. Particularly with regard to sexual-offences trials in which case secret trials is the most common form to be used in the Swedish system of justice.
  • The number of appeals in Sweden has been notably reduced after a law of 2008 (the so called EMR reform) devised to curve down the number of cases resulting on appealing at higher courts.
  • In the Swedish case against Assange the police investigators conducted interrogations without video-recording, sound-tape recording or other form of transcription.  This is an aggravating anomaly and which infringed clear standard proceedings as instructed by the Police Authority with regard to cases involved suspicions of rape.
  • The interrogation of one of the nominal accusers was performed by a police officer friend of the other nominal accuser.
  • The interrogation of Julian Assange could have very well have conducted in Sweden but the prosecutor chosen to issue an Interpol warrant what it made possible the fabrication of an extradition case. 
  • The law-firm defending the accusers is co-owned by a politician member of the very same political group within the Swedish Social democratic party, Mr. Thomas Bodström (former Minister of Justice) and in which the accuser AA was at the time of the accusation the political secretary. 
  • The actual lawyer appointed by the firm (the other co-owner of the law firm) is Mr. Claes Bogström, which, together with the prosecutor of the case Ms. Marianne Ny, and together with the former Minister of Justice and chairman of the Justice Committee of the Swedish Parliament Mr. Thomas Bodström participated in the study of the new legislation which radicalized the proceedings and penalties for sexual-offences in Sweden.
  • Mr. Thomas Bodström was the main politician - apart of the former Prime Minister Göran Persson - signalled around the agreements with CIA on the rendition of political refugees in Sweden to be transported to torture elsewhere. For that he was called upon the Swedish Constitutional Committee. The Swedish political parties however, as well as the mainstream media, did never really condemn such behaviour.

The wrongdoings criticized in these columns regarding the unfair treatment of the case Assange in Sweden (the "accusations", the conduct of some officials during some stages of the investigation, the "leaks", the intervention of government through public declarations in favor of the accusers, and above all, the role of the mainstream media and the ad-homimen cyber-campaigns orchestrated by radical feminists) are accountable to the signalled politicians and stream media journalists. Primarily those active in the campaign of desinformation about the case, but also those, that with their accomplice silence, have deprived the noble profession of journalism of its fundamental ethics: telling the public the truth. 

It is all, apparently, in the official or mainstream media, and in the political level. The Swedish people as such, inclusive lawyers and a number of professionals in the law system and independent journalists, is not to be held responsible. 

In fact, there is no such a “massive” active intervention of the Swedish public in the affair Assange. However - around this issue, viewed as many (as presented by the establishment) as a "critic to Sweden" - there exist also a passive type of alienated behaviour from the average public; an uncritical, scare or chauvinist-motivated adherence to the version provided by the authorities. 

Yet, the international forum should view the commented official stands more as an unfortunate episode in the Swedish international doing. In contrast, some Swedish traditions in those regards have been standard to follow by many nations, and hopefully these traditions will at the end prevail.

Other articles on the Swedish case against  Assange in the Professors blogg


 
Wikileaks, J Assange, Assange,intressant, feminism
media, journalists

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