hazelpress · @hazelpress
20th Aug 2015 from TwitLonger
20th Aug 2015 - Melinda Taylor on 13 August statement by prosecutor Marianne Ny.
"The Swedish prosecutor's statement today is acutely misleading.
She falsely states that 'Julian Assange, on his own accord, has evaded prosecution by seeking refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador'. Assange sought and was granted political asylum from persecution under a US 'espionage' investigation, not from any Swedish prosecutor as Ecuador's asylum declaration makes clear. He has not 'evaded prosecution' in Sweden. There is at present no prosecution. The prosecutor admitted in a submission to a Swedish district court on the 16th of July 2014 that she has not even decided whether to charge Julian Assange. He has not been charged.
She claims she sought to interview Assange in the embassy and implies that he refused. In fact, Assange has been demanding that the prosecutor take his statement for five years. It was Assange who initiated the request to hold an interview, and he placed no reservations on the desired interview, because it was his wish that it would happen as soon as possible. This is made clear by this diplomatic cable between Ecuador and Sweden: http://is.gd/tYSgEU
She also claims that she asked Ecuador for permission to interview Assange but that she has not been given permission. In fact, Ecuador has been asking the prosecutor to interview Assange for three years, and for three years she has refused. For months, she has refused to enter into a dialogue with Ecuador on the mutual assistance parameters of the interview, a dialogue that is necessary before an interview can take place. In her statement, the prosecutor says that she hopes to conduct a further hearing, since 'there is an ongoing dialogue on the issue between Sweden and Ecuador'. She neglects to mention that Sweden only agreed to Ecuador's repeated requests to enter dialogue two days ago, after refusing Ecuador's invitations for the last three years.
Both the Swedish Court of Appeals and the Swedish Supreme Court have rebuked the prosecutor for failing to advance her preliminary investigation. Responsibility for today's outcome fully belongs to the Swedish prosecutor."
- Melinda Taylor