Assange in Decisive Round Over Swedish Rape Law

By Andreas Lönnqvist
STOCKHOLM, Feb 6 (IPS) The attempt to extradite the Wikileaks founder
Julian Assange for questioning
over allegations of sexual crimes has caused a big debate about the
Swedish
justice system abroad. The case has also brought the comparatively broad
definitions of what constitutes rape in this country into the limelight.

The 39-year-old Australian citizen, who currently is out on bail in the
UK, is
wanted in Sweden over allegations of one rape, two cases of sexual
molestation and one case of unlawful coercion. The allegations have been
made by two women who met Assange in Sweden during a period of ten days
last august, just as Wikileaks was releasing classified U.S. documents.

Assange denies the allegations and has not formally been charged with any
offence, but is wanted by the Swedish police for questioning. Assange will
face a full extradition hearing on February 7-8 when a judge in London
will
examine the demand to extradite him to Sweden.

According to leaked police documents published by the Norwegian newspaper
Verdens Gang and the British daily The Guardian, the two women admit to
having initiated consensual sexual relations with Assange. But according
to
them he would not listen to them when they insisted that a condom be used.

"Assange was violent and rough. All I wanted was him to stop,"
says one of
the women in a police interview, published by Verdens Gang.

The two women behind the charges have been accused by some of
Assange’s
supporters of making malicious complaints or acting as
"honeytraps" in a
wider conspiracy to discredit him and Wikileaks.

The journalist John Pilger dismissed the case as a "political
stunt" in an
interview with ABC news, and the Academy-award winning filmmaker and
writer Michael Moore has published an open letter on his website where he
claims that rapists usually enjoy impunity in Sweden.

According to Moore, the "message to rapists" is "Sweden
loves you!". "So
imagine our surprise when all of a sudden you decided to go after one
Julian
Assange on sexual assault charges," writes Moore, who also claims
that
"Sweden has the highest per capita number of reported rapes in
Europe."

Klara Hradilova-Selin, research analyst at The Swedish National Council
for
Crime Prevention (BRÅ), says it is true that the number of reported
rapes in
Sweden have increased considerably in recent years. But she says that
Michael
Moore’s letter is full of "sheer folly".

"He paints a picture of Sweden as a country where rapists roam free
on the
streets, while Mr Assange is hunted for absolutely nothing. Which is
completely incorrect," says Klara Hradilova-Selin.

Klara Hradilova-Selin thinks that the focus in the international debate in
some cases has been built on the premise that Assange is innocent, and she
says that even though the case has not yet been investigated many pundits
act as if they already are certain about all the facts.

"It is only natural that there are speculations about a possible
conspiracy
considering the person involved is so controversial, but the fact is that
no one
knows anything about the case before it has been fully investigated,"
Klara
Hradilova-Selin told IPS.

According to BRÅ the main factor behind the high number of reported
rapes
in Sweden is the fact that there is a comparatively broad definition of
what
constitutes rape. This definition means that more sexual crimes are
registered
as rape than in most other countries. Since the law was amended in 2005
the
number of reported rapes has increased considerably, as many cases that
used to be reported as sexual abuse are now registered as rape.

Klara Hradilova-Selin says that the crimes Julian Assange is suspected to
have
committed would likely be punishable in most other countries too, but
might
not be described as rape.

She also underscores that the local authorities are making a lot of effort
to
register all cases that can be suspected rape. This is done at a very
early
stage of the process, so cases that later turn out to be some other sex
crime,
or no crime at all, are also included. And in addition to this, all
individual acts
are registered – not just the latest crime.

"If a woman reports that she has been raped by her partner twice a
week
during the last year, this can result in hundreds of registrations of rape
in the
statistics, whereas the same case would only result in one registration of
rape
in other countries. It is impossible to compare statistics for reported
crimes
between different countries," says Klara Hradilova-Selin.

She also points out that Swedish women are more likely today to report
abuses to the police than they were before. While many victims previously
did
not dare to believe the system would support them, more do so now because
attitudes have changed, says Klara Hradilova-Selin.

"All in all there are many reasons why more rapes are reported to the
police,
but this does not mean that rape is more common in Sweden compared to
other countries," she says.

According to Klara Hradilova-Selin comparisons between countries based on
large surveys of the general public, so-called victim surveys, instead
show
that the number of sexual crimes in Sweden is around the average mark in
Europe.

Mårten Schultz, associate professor at the faculty of law at Uppsala
university,
is critical of the way many media outlets have reported about the question
of
guilt – both whether Assange has actually committed any crimes, but
also by
questioning the credibility of the two women. These are all questions that
no
one can be certain about for the moment, says Schultz.

"Some of the accusations against the women has been
distasteful," Schultz
told IPS.

Schultz does not think that Swedish authorities have been particularly
severe
in the way they have treated Assange, as he was allowed to leave the
country
while waiting to be interviewed by the police.

"I think the alleged crimes, as they have been portrayed, would have
been
dealt with in the same way in most western countries. To have sex with
someone who is unwilling and also asleep would probably be filed as rape
or
another kind of sexual offence in most western countries," says
Schultz.

Schultz does not think there are political motives behind the case, but he
also
says that it is obvious that many people have used the case for political
ends.
"I do not know what happened. The women could be CIA agents, but I
really
don’t think so – in fact it is completely unlikely."