Sweden's justice system may become a laughing stock over the rape charges against Wikileaks figurehead Julian Assange
- James D Catlin
- The Sunday Mail (Qld)
- December 05, 2010 12:01AM
APPARENTLY having consensual sex in Sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a minimum of two years for rape.
That was the basis for a recent revival of rape allegations against Wikileaks figurehead Julian Assange that is destined to make Sweden and its justice system the laughing stock of the world and dramatically damage its reputation as a model of modernity.
Sweden's Public Prosecutor's Office was embarrassed in August this year when they leaked to the media that they were seeking to arrest Assange for rape, then on the same day withdrew the arrest warrant because in their own words there was "no evidence".
The damage to Assange's reputation is incalculable.
Three months on, and three prosecutors later, the Swedes seemed to be clear on their basis to proceed with a headline-grabbing international arrest warrant.
If consensual sex that started out with the intention of condom use, and actual condom use ended up without condom, that's rape.
Statements by the two female "victims" Sophia Wilén and Anna Ardin that there was no fear or violence would stop a rape charge in any western country dead in its tracks.
Rape is a crime of violence. Both women boasted of their of their respective celebrity conquests on internet posts and mobile phones texts after the intimacy they would now see him destroyed for.
Ardin hosted a party in Assange's honour at her flat after the 'crime' and tweeted to her followers that she was with the "the world's coolest smartest people, it's amazing!"
Ardin has sought unsuccessfully to delete these and thereby destroy evidence of Assange's innocence.
She has published on the internet a guide on how to get revenge on cheating boyfriends.
Their SMS texts to each other show a plan to contact the Swedish newspaper Expressenbeforehand, in order to maximise the damage to Assange.
They belong to the same political group, and attended a public lecture given by Assange and organised by them.
The exact content of Sophia Wilén's mobile phone texts is not yet known, but their bragging and generally positive content about Assange has been confirmed by Swedish prosecutors.
The consent of both women to sex with Assange has been confirmed by prosecutors.
Niether Wilén's nor Ardin's texts complain of rape.
These facts should make any normal prosecutor gravely concerned about whether a false complaint is being made.
But then neither Arden nor Wilén complained to the police. They collaboratively 'sought advice', a technique in Sweden enabling citizens to avoid being sued for making false complaints.
In any normal first world country, the prosecutor would know that her case is not just a deeply-flawed waste of time, but a dangerous perversion of the serious objectives of rape laws.
The womens' lawyer Claes Borgström was questioned by the media as to how the women themselves could be contradicting the legal characterisation of Swedish prosecutors; a crime of non-consent by consent.
Borgström's answer is emblematic of how divorced from reality this matter is: "They (the women) are not jurists".
You need a law degree to know whether you have been raped or not in Sweden.
How the Swedish authorities propose to prosecute for victims who neither saw themselves as such, nor acted as such is easily answered: You're not a Swedish lawyer, so you wouldn't understand anyway.
Make no mistake: it is not Julian Assange that is on trial here, but Sweden and its reputation as a modern and model country with rules of law.
James D. Catlin is a Melbourne Barrister
who acted for Mr Assange in London during October.
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