Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Commentary Blogs -> TalkLeft

Legal Commentary

: TalkLeft

Rape Warrant for Wikileaks Founder Canceled in Sweden

By Jeralyn

Update: Rape warrant canceled.

An arrest warrant has been issued in Sweden for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He is being sought for questioning on allegations of rape and molestation in two cases.

Assange says the allegations are the beginning of a "dirty tricks" cammpaign intended as retribution for his publishing the Pentagon Afghan war files on the Wikileaks website.

Assange is Australian and doesn't have a permanent address. He was in Sweden last week on Wikileaks business.

Assange, an Australian citizen, was in Sweden last week to apply for a publishing certificate to make sure the website, which has servers in Sweden, can take full advantage of Swedish laws protecting whistleblowers. He also gave a talk about his work and defended the decision by Wikileaks to publish the Afghan war logs.

Assange's current whereabouts are unknown, but some say he is still in Sweden. On the allegations [More....]:

Prosecutor Maria Haljebo Kjellstrand told the TT news agency that the rape was allegedly committed at Enkoping, near Stockholm, and an assault on another woman in the capital.

Via CNN, which asks whether the allegations are part of a smear campaign by the U.S.: Here is a rough translation of the report that appeared in Expressen in Sweden.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 21, 2010 (boomark / email).