British politics

[Robert5091]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...ailed-for-50-weeks-for-breaching-bail-in-2012

Julian Assange jailed for 50 weeks for breaching bail in 2012

The 47-year-old was appearing at Southwark crown court, where Judge Deborah Taylor said that he had engaged in a “deliberate attempt to evade justice”.

To gasps from a few dozen Assange supporters in the public gallery, the judge said that a number of factors put his refusal to surrender in the highest tier – category A – of the offence.

By entering the embassy he deliberately put himself out of range of investigators, she told Assange. “You exploited your privileged position to flout the law and advertised internationally your disdain for the law of this country,” she added.

She also told him that even though he did cooperate initially with the investigation “it was not for you to decide the nature of your cooperation with the Swedish investigation” and his continued residency in the embassy had been an attempt to delay and thwart the process.

The judge also referred to the expenditure of £16m of taxpayers’ money on policing resources outside the embassy for the period in which he was there.

“It is essential that no one is above or beyond the reach of the law,” she concluded, before sentencing Assange to 50 weeks.

Counsel for Assange had laid out a number of mitigating factors, claiming that Assange lived in fear of being rendered from Sweden to the US, where politicians had talked of having him assassinated.

The case of Chelsea Manning and the conditions in which the US military whistleblower was kept was also instanced, as was the case of individuals who were rendered from Sweden to the US in chains and after being drugged for transatlantic flights.

So the US has plenty of time to work on their prosecution, and I wondered if the "extraordinary rendition" of 2 Egyptians from Stockholm in 2001 would be mentioned. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition#Sweden - a very dark day in Sweden's history)

 

[Robert5091]

Local elections today in the UK -
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...k-of-trust-campaigners-on-the-local-elections

‘There’s a lack of trust of politics and politicians’

Quelle surprise!

and reading about one candidate's experience, it's not surprising that only a****holes want to be politicians -

I have received online abuse and threats, including personal threats of violence which I took to the local press and police. I was warned not to canvass or else I’d be punched and that the individual would get away with it as there are no police. I was also told that it was a “good time to be a stabbed”.

On the doorstep most people are friendly and polite, but I have had a broom brandished at me and others swear. I am social media officer for my local party and have shouldered the burden for my colleagues, putting my head above the parapet online. Trolls have been attacking me since day one, but it has got much worse since we did not leave on 29 March. Lots of my colleagues have experienced abuse. It’s been a disillusioning process and I don’t know if I’d stand again after this. Amy Licence, Labour candidate in Canterbury

 

[Jagartrott]

Well, who could've predicted this eh?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/11/poll-surge-for-farage-panic-conservatives-and-labour

 

[macbindle]

Its because there is no other pure Leave party (other than UKIP, which is now a far-right racist party).

Remain vote is split 5 ways.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Its because there is no other pure Leave party (other than UKIP, which is now a far-right racist party).

Remain vote is split 5 ways.

Maybe there should be a Remain party, which can maybe have a red rose as a symbol, and the Brexit party could have a white rose and ... wait a moment, I'm having a deja vu moment.

 

[Robert5091]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/13/sweden-reopens-case-against-julian-assange

Sweden reopens rape case against Julian Assange

Lawyer for woman involved in allegations from 2010 asked for investigation to resume

https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/s...-into-rape-allegation-against-julian-assange/

To begin with Julian Assange was suspected of four offences in Sweden in 2010. The statute of limititation expired for three of the allegations in 2015.

The statute of limitation for the allegation of rape, which is now being reopened, will expire in August 2020.

Elisabeth Massi-Fritz, counsel for the injured party, has said that she believes it is possible that Julian Assange will be extradited to Sweden before the statute of limitation expires.

This whole Assange in Sweden saga is strange since both women happily got into bed with Assange then after he left Sweden, got together, contacted the "gutter press", and then filed charges against Assange. The whole thing reeks of "groupie dissapointment".

 

[rick james]

Take it to the Swedish politics thread

 

[del1962]

Re:

Its because there is no other pure Leave party (other than UKIP, which is now a far-right racist party).

Remain vote is split 5 ways.

Nah in England you have 2 no deal parties
One leave with a defined deal
On that lies abut being leave /remain depending on who they are talking to
And 3 remain parties

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Take it to the Swedish politics thread

Nope. If there is a fight over who takes precedent the Assange case is very much about British Politics.

 

[rick james]

well lets hope the big rapey bastard goes to Sweden, then gets moved onto America and then scum bag can spend the rest of his breathing days in an American jail

 

[King Boonen]

As long as Sweden gets priority I’m fine with that. Skipping out on rape charges and then trying to dictate how a country prosecutes people was utterly ridiculous, I couldn’t believe people were defending him. Unfortunately, they still are.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

As long as Sweden gets priority I’m fine with that. Skipping out on rape charges and then trying to dictate how a country prosecutes people was utterly ridiculous, I couldn’t believe people were defending him. Unfortunately, they still are.

As it was, if Assange had stayed in Sweden, the charges would most likey had been thrown out of court. Being a celebrity meant it quickly became a circus with lawyers trying to make a name for themselves. Chefsåklagare (prosecuter) Eva Finné actually dismissed the case after just 24 hours but it was appealed and the circus rolled on. I'm not defending Assange's subsequent flight to the Ecudorian Embassy just pointing out the "rape charges" are a lazy/inaccurate translation of the actual charges.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

As long as Sweden gets priority I’m fine with that. Skipping out on rape charges and then trying to dictate how a country prosecutes people was utterly ridiculous, I couldn’t believe people were defending him. Unfortunately, they still are.

As it was, if Assange had stayed in Sweden, the charges would most likey had been thrown out of court. Being a celebrity meant it quickly became a circus with lawyers trying to make a name for themselves. Chefsåklagare (prosecuter) Eva Finné actually dismissed the case after just 24 hours but it was appealed and the circus rolled on. I'm not defending Assange's subsequent flight to the Ecudorian Embassy just pointing out the "rape charges" are a lazy/inaccurate translation of the actual charges.

That's not at all like many accounts I've read. When I get chance I'll try dig some out, will require some Google-fu as obviously the top pages are pretty saturated with recent news.

 

[Robert5091]

Turn on the Google translate for these articles (if you want) -
https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/aklagaren-som-anholl-assange-jag-angrar-det-inte/

The 2 women wanted Assange to do an HIV/STD test instead it became a police matter
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/a2vg6O/kvinnorna-tankte-inte-anmala-assange

Someone involved at the time with Assange
https://donaldbostrom.com/projects/on-wikileaks-and-julian-assange

EDIT - update - reading through the Police Interviews at https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...csimile+from+Forsvarsadvokaterna+23.11.10.PDF from the donaldbostrom.com website - lots to read, and it confirms Assange's attitude to women. Interview with Assange too - translated into Swedish though.

 

[King Boonen]

Thanks, I'll have a read. Hopefully translate is good at Swedish!

 

[King Boonen]

Account on Assange including discussion of extradition process and the charges against him:

https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/media/2012/09/legal-mythology-extradition-julian-assange

This seems extremely damning for Assange.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Account on Assange including discussion of extradition process and the charges against him:

https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/media/2012/09/legal-mythology-extradition-julian-assange

This seems extremely damning for Assange.

Again if Assange had stayed in Sweden, this would all be over and done with. Infact reading the interviews he comes over as a scumbag who has serious relationship problems. "Unpleasant" is the description both women use rather then threatening.

 

[rick james]

Aye he’d be in America already, doing time and getting shafted from big Dwayne the cell block pimp

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Account on Assange including discussion of extradition process and the charges against him:

https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/media/2012/09/legal-mythology-extradition-julian-assange

This seems extremely damning for Assange.

Again if Assange had stayed in Sweden, this would all be over and done with. Infact reading the interviews he comes over as a scumbag who has serious relationship problems. "Unpleasant" is the description both women use rather then threatening.

From your previous post:

As it was, if Assange had stayed in Sweden, the charges would most likely had been thrown out of court

From the article I posted:

The Swedish prosecutor proceeded to obtain a warrant for Assange’s arrest on 20 November 2010. Assange instructed his Swedish lawyer to challenge the warrant and it is appealed to the Court of Appeal of Svea. On 24 November 2010 the appeal court upheld the warrant. The significance of this is that the allegations giving rise to the warrant have already been tested in the Swedish legal system

The allegations were tested and the warrant was upheld. This would indicate that they were unlikely to be thrown out by the court.

From your post:

Being a celebrity meant it quickly became a circus with lawyers trying to make a name for themselves

Assange's lawyers lied and misled the courts, they were acting on his instruction. If it's a circus, he is the ringmaster.

From the article:

The Chief Magistrate also heard witnesses on behalf of Assange. Under cross-examination, it became clear that Assange’s own Swedish lawyer had misled the court and Assange’s other witnesses over whether the Swedish prosecutor had been in contact to request interrogation before Assange left Sweden. In a scathing passage of the judgment , the Chief Magistrate even accused Assange’s Swedish lawyer of “a deliberate attempt to mislead the court”.

This is the part I have the most problem with:

I'm not defending Assange's subsequent flight to the Ecudorian Embassy just pointing out the "rape charges" are a lazy/inaccurate translation of the actual charges.

It is not lazy or inaccurate. I went back to the decision of the City of Westminster's Magistrates court (can be read here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/Misc/2011/5.html ). There were 4 offences listed on the European Arrest Warrant. 1 of them, offence 4, was listed as rape. The court determined that what was alleged was rape and would amount to rape in the UK. From the decision:

The position with offence 4 is different. This is an allegation of rape. The framework list is ticked for rape.
The defence accepts that normally the ticking of a framework list offence box on an EAW would require very
little analysis by the court. However they then developed a sophisticated argument that the conduct alleged here
would not amount to rape in most European countries. However, what is alleged here is that Mr Assange
“deliberately consummated sexual intercourse with her by improperly exploiting that she, due to sleep, was in a
helpless state”. In this country that would amount to rape.

He is an accused rapist, accusations that have been tested in court, and should stand trial for that in Sweden. He challenged the accusations both in Sweden and in the UK and lost.

Whether he should then be extradited to the US is a different question. It falls down to whether he was involved in obtaining the documents he published or not. I don't know enough about that to have an opinion.

 

[Robert5091]

The Conservative Party's public splitting in two continues -
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ism-esther-mcvey-launches-tory-leadership-bid

The race to succeed Theresa May has escalated as 10 contenders from the Conservative party spent Monday either touting their visions for the future or busily refusing to rule out running.

With the prime minister’s final attempt to pass a Brexit deal being dismissed by all wings of the party and her time in Downing Street being measured in weeks, there were two full-blown launches of new party groupings on Monday.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...spends-michael-heseltine-for-backing-lib-dems

Lord Heseltine has had the Conservative whip suspended after saying he would vote Liberal Democrat in this week’s European elections, the party has said.

 

[Robert5091]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48347371

British Steel is on the verge of administration as it continues to lobby for government backing, sources say.

The UK's second-biggest steel maker had been trying to secure £75m in financial support to help it to address "Brexit-related issues".

If the firm does not get the cash it would put 4,500 jobs at risk and endanger 20,000 in the supply chain.

 

[The Hitch]

Who can forget the amazing spectacle of fake moral outrage pushed to the extreme, when some idiot shouted at anna sousbry in January.

How dare someone from the working class call someone from the political class a nazi- they sneered from behind their higher caste. "Only we, are allowed to call people we don't like Nazis".

But now that for over a week, politicians that they don't like have been called Nazis, trumpets played over them while they try to speak or even assaulted, thrown milkshakes at as well as eggs, bricks etc, suddenly its ok.

So predictable.

 

[macbindle]

You forgot the kippers thrown at flabby facist Carl Benjamin the incel pin-up.

The kippers were my personal favourite.

 

[Robert5091]

Well if the populace have the disposable income to buy food items and throw them away (or at politicians) then, as Harold Macmillan said, "you've never had it so good" !

June 10 is apparently Mrs May's last day - adieu!

 

[Unchained]

How will the Brits react to Donald blessing them w a visit and most likely a lecture on how he can see obvious answers to...everything