How do you know that this is the reason that the prosecutor brought them back? Which fox news journalist?
Correct. This is partly a problem with the translation and partly due to ambiguous Swedish laws and terminology. The Swedish word that is often defined as "rape" (in English) has totally different connotations due (I say) to the antiquated use of the term "våldtäkt". Today, in Sweden, you can be convicted of "våldtäkt" for verbally convincing your own wife to have sex with you if, for example, she initially said she wasn't "in the mood" or she may have had a drink or two and "didn't know what she was doing". And the direct translation of "våldtäkt" is forcing yourself upon someone by "violent" (våld) means. Sexual assault (the nearest thing being "molestation") is called "ofredande" (in Swedish) and can include gazing at someone who "feels" you have sex on your mind. The key is what the person "feels" and has nothing at all to do with your intentions or your thoughts or if you were, in fact, actually gazing at them in the first place. This may not be from the horse's mouth but it is from the horses stall as much of what has been reported here has not been reported abroad: Julian had sex with two women without using a condom just prior to him leaving for the UK. The women contacted the police to ask if someone can be compelled to test for HIV. First of all this was a silly thing to do because Julian, it seems, was perfectly willing to test himself and that is in fact what he did. Once the police realized the person in question was Julian Assange the wheels were set in motion to use the instance to get Assange back to Sweden. The truth is that he was returning to Sweden anyway and would have done so if he hadn't been informed of the plot to force him back. A foregone conclusion became evident to both him and everyone else that the CIA had had a great part in the plot. As I said, the news here often does not find its's way abroad and so you may not be aware that Swedish government has been cooperating with the CIA for some time now and have been actively committing crimes against our own laws by allowing clandestine CIA flight between Sweden and Guantanamo. With that in mind, Julian's suspicions are not unfounded in the least. On a more personal level, neither of those women have made any report against Assange and have NEVER claimed any charge at all. No, this has been treated as a crime against the state, pure and simple, and the women have alleged that Swedish courts have attempted to coerce them into making charges against him. Yes, that is the way it seems.
If a government wanted to question me about the blowing up of a refinery, I would gladly go in for questioning to sort out the big misunderstanding. Sweden just wanted to question Assange didn't they? The best legal case against him that I can see is receiving stolen government property. I'm not convinced that this should be automatically legal simply under the guise of 'journalism.' However, if the stolen information reveals information that is deemed to be in the public interest, then they should be exonerated.
How are people prosecuted in Sweden for rape in the home? I'm not actually sure how people are charged in ANY country for this, given that the act would take place with no witnesses! (Assuming that there is no camera.)
The woman's testimony is the A to Z of the unwritten Swedish law. Neither witnesses nor forensic proof is necessary in Sweden. Had the Swedish courts succeeded in coercing one of those women to file charges against Julian Assange his goose would already be cooked.
No, he was an accomplice in theft. He didn't steal much from the Chinese or Russians, mind you. And that's something to think about.
Well, he didn't expose Putin's regime. And he didn't expose Xi's militarist government. And he didn't embarrass the Zimbabwe government. And he had no issue with the Cubans. Not sure if he exposed the corrupt Venezuelan el president. So who else is there?
Assange reminds me of Michael Moore; Noam Chomsky; John Pilger, Joan Fonda, Edward Snowden and Bernie Sanders. Ready to criticize the nation that nourishes them and gives them the freedom to attack - and by manipulating FACTS these character all give us an out-of-context UNTRUTHS about Western civilization. Yes, Assange is a traitor.
Assange, like many in the Western Left, is a traitor to what he himself claims to believe in - liberal democracy. This is why Assange isn't about to expose Putin for instance, not that he would rightly fear the Russian dictator, he is simply not offended by what Putin does. He if offended by those who would resist the Putins, or the Hitlers, or the Maos.
He is already a hero to those who are aware of what's going on around them, and who favor the idea that the crimes of government be exposed.
It's a fact that he was called back and he refused. If he is innocent then why didn't he agree to be questioned? Why not agree the first time that he was called? Innocent people tend to want to clear their name.