I am slightly updating and reposting this from 2012 because the mainstream media have ensured very few people know the detail of the “case” against Julian Assange in Sweden. The UN Working Group ruled that Assange ought never to have been arrested in the UK in the first place because there is no case, and no genuine investigation. Read this and you will know why.
The other thing not widely understood is there is NO JURY in a rape trial in Sweden and it is a SECRET TRIAL. All of the evidence, all of the witnesses, are heard in secret. No public, no jury, no media. The only public part is the charging and the verdict. There is a judge and two advisers directly appointed by political parties. So you never would get to understand how plainly the case is a stitch-up. Unless you read this.
There are so many inconsistencies in Anna Ardin’s accusation of sexual assault against Julian Assange. But the key question which leaps out at me – and which strangely I have not seen asked anywhere else – is this:
Why did Anna Ardin not warn Sofia Wilen?
On 16 August, Julian Assange had sex with Sofia Wilen. Sofia had become known in the Swedish group around Assange for the shocking pink cashmere sweater she had worn in the front row of Assange’s press conference. Anna Ardin knew Assange was planning to have sex with Sofia Wilen. On 17 August, Ardin texted a friend who was looking for Assange:
“He’s not here. He’s planned to have sex with the cashmere girl every evening, but not made it. Maybe he finally found time yesterday?”
Yet Ardin later testified that just three days earlier, on 13 August, she had been sexually assaulted by Assange; an assault so serious she was willing to try (with great success) to ruin Julian Assange’s entire life. She was also to state that this assault involved enforced unprotected sex and she was concerned about HIV.
If Ardin really believed that on 13 August Assange had forced unprotected sex on her and this could have transmitted HIV, why did she make no attempt to warn Sofia Wilen that Wilen was in danger of her life? And why was Ardin discussing with Assange his desire for sex with Wilen, and texting about it to friends, with no evident disapproval or discouragement?
Ardin had Wilen’s contact details and indeed had organised her registration for the press conference. She could have warned her. But she didn’t.
Let us fit that into a very brief survey of the whole Ardin/Assange relationship. .
11 August: Assange arrives in Stockholm for a press conference organised by a branch of the Social Democratic Party.
Anna Ardin has offered her one bed flat for him to stay in as she will be away.
13 August: Ardin comes back early. She has dinner with Assange and they have consensual sex, on the first day of meeting. Ardin subsequently alleges this turned into assault by surreptitious mutilation of the condom.
14 August: Anna volunteers to act as Julian’s press secretary. She sits next to him on the dais at his press conference. Assange meets Sofia Wilen there.
‘Julian wants to go to a crayfish party, anyone have a couple of available seats tonight or tomorrow? #fb’
This attempt to find a crayfish party fails, so Ardin organises one herself for him, in a garden outside her flat. Anna and Julian seem good together. One guest hears Anna rib Assange that she thought “you had dumped me” when he got up from bed early that morning. Another offers to Anna that Julian can leave her flat and come stay with them. She replies:
“He can stay with me.”
15 August Still at the crayfish party with Julian, Anna tweets:
‘Sitting outdoors at 02:00 and hardly freezing with the world’s coolest smartest people, it’s amazing! #fb’
Julian and Anna, according to both their police testimonies, sleep again in the same single bed, and continue to do so for the next few days. Assange tells police they continue to have sex; Anna tells police they do not. That evening, Anna and Julian go together to, and leave together from, a dinner with the leadership of the Pirate Party. They again sleep in the same bed.
16 August: Julian goes to have sex with Sofia Wilen: Ardin does not warn her of potential sexual assault.
Another friend offers Anna to take over housing Julian. Anna again refuses.
20 August: After Sofia Wilen contacts her to say she is worried about STD’s including HIV after unprotected sex with Julian, Anna takes her to see Anna’s friend, fellow Social Democrat member, former colleague on the same ballot in a council election, and campaigning feminist police officer, Irmeli Krans. Ardin tells Wilen the police can compel Assange to take an HIV test. Ardin sits in throughout Wilen’s unrecorded – in breach of procedure – police interview. Krans prepares a statement accusing Assange of rape. Wilen refuses to sign it.
21 August Having heard Wilen’s interview and Krans’ statement from it, Ardin makes her own police statement alleging Assange has surreptiously had unprotected sex with her eight days previously.
Some days later: Ardin produces a broken condom to the police as evidence; but a forensic examination finds no traces of Assange’s – or anyone else’s – DNA on it, and indeed it is apparently unused.
No witness has come forward to say that Ardin complained of sexual assault by Assange before Wilen’s Ardin-arranged interview with Krans – and Wilen came forward not to complain of an assault, but enquire about STDs. Wilen refused to sign the statement alleging rape, which was drawn up by Ardin’s friend Krans in Ardin’s presence.
It is therefore plain that one of two things happened:
Either
Ardin was sexually assaulted with unprotected sex, but failed to warn Wilen when she knew Assange was going to see her in hope of sex.
Ardin also continued to host Assange, help him, appear in public and private with him, act as his press secretary, and sleep in the same bed with him, refusing repeated offers to accommodate him elsewhere, all after he assaulted her.
Or
Ardin wanted sex with Assange – from whatever motive.. She “unexpectedly” returned home early after offering him the use of her one bed flat while she was away. By her own admission, she had consensual sex with him, within hours of meeting him.
She discussed with Assange his desire for sex with Wilen, and appears at least not to have been discouraging. Hearing of Wilen’s concern about HIV after unprotected sex, she took Wilen to her campaigning feminist friend, policewoman Irmeli Krans, in order to twist Wilen’s story into a sexual assault – very easy given Sweden’s astonishing “second-wave feminism” rape laws. Wilen refused to sign.
At the police station on 20 August, Wilen texted a friend at 14.25 “did not want to put any charges against JA but the police wanted to get a grip on him.”
At 17.26 she texted that she was “shocked when they arrested JA because I only wanted him to take a test”.
The next evening at 22.22 she texted “it was the police who fabricated the charges”.
Ardin then made up her own story of sexual assault. As so many friends knew she was having sex with Assange, she could not claim non-consensual sex. So she manufactured her story to fit in with Wilen’s concerns by alleging the affair of the torn condom. But the torn condom she produced has no trace of Assange on it. It is impossible to wear a condom and not leave a DNA trace.
Conclusion
I have no difficulty in saying that I firmly believe Ardin to be a liar. For her story to be true involves acceptance of behaviour which is, in the literal sense, incredible.
Ardin’s story is of course incredibly weak, but that does not matter. Firstly, you were never supposed to see all this detail. Rape trials in Sweden are held entirely in secret. There is no jury, and the government appointed judge is flanked by assessors appointed directly by political parties. If Assange goes to Sweden, he will disappear into jail, the trial will be secret, and the next thing you will hear is that he is guilty and a rapist.
Secondly, of course, it does not matter the evidence is so weak, as just to cry rape is to tarnish a man’s reputation forever. Anna Ardin has already succeeded in ruining much of the work and life of Assange. The details of the story being pathetic is unimportant.
By crying rape, politically correct opinion falls in behind the line that it is wrong even to look at the evidence. If you are not allowed to know who the accuser is, how can you find out that she worked with CIA-funded anti-Castro groups in Havana and Miami?
Finally, to those useful idiots who claim that the way to test these matters is in court, I would say of course, you are right, we should trust the state always, fit-ups never happen, and we should absolutely condemn the disgraceful behaviour of those who campaigned for the Birmingham Six.
Annnndddd, courtesy of The Great Komodo…
Together with Komodo’s explanatory note on who the IADB is:
http://www.bicusa.org/institutions/idb/
The Inter-American Development Bank. Running a “Consultative Group meeting for the Reconstruction and Transformation of Central America”, eh? With literally hordes of high-level Swedish government figures – including Anders Kviele – in attendance? Hmmm…
Hmm, having thought about it a while, I think the fact that the US hasn’t really trumpeted that this relates to Assange’s case means that this might be the outward manifestation of a little war going on between the US and Sweden. Obviously, the US has been making “informal requests” for this lady for years (there was an article admitting that the reason Sweden had never said no to a US extradition request was because all potential extraditions were given the nod informally first) but she’s been protected by her high-level Swedish FO buddies.
It’s still weird though. She was recruiting pro-Castro spies from the US for years, her hubby has been placing anti-Castro/anti-Left spies in Latam embassies for years. And he’s documented as heavily involved in Swedish destabilisation efforts in Latin America, which have been going on for years. Sounds like war has broken out between US vs Sweden spooks. Which will be interesting to watch…
Iceland is proving to be an island of progressivism in the oppression-tainted waters of the World. (Hi Arbed)
http://en.rsf.org/iceland-court-orders-visa-subcontractor-to-26-04-2013,44440.html
SW:s old boyfriend suddenly appears on Vimeo, The video is recorded exactly 1 week after Seth Benson was interrrogated by swedish police. The strange thing is that this video is unknown until yesterday, we suspect that the title of film was different in sept 2010, and changed name recently, you can se the odd stats on vimeo tech.
Some of us flashbackers suspect that it was Seth that was the triggering factor of SW:s HIV-panic attack that lead to this affair, your welcome to dig deeper in the video,. Seth lives in L.A / Santa Monica since jan 2013, so the query is why his old friends suddenly “outed” Seth…
http://vimeo.com/15396126
Arbed at 9.30 a.m. 26 April. That is a strange report about unsealing a sealed indictment, and may well be to try and show how safe Assange would be if he went to Sweden. It may even be true that through the Swedish Courts he might be safe. But what the CIA do is what they did with the Egyptians they rendered to torture. They pick them up at the airport and bypass the legal system altogether. This is what was done by MOSSAD when they picked up Mordechai Vanunu who still cannot leave Israel. The story reeks.
@arbed. Yor comment on 26 april 2013 4:46 pm:
It is definitely the same Anders Kviele. He is taking part in the “Consultative Group meeting for the Reconstruction and Transformation of Central America”.
The very large Swedish delegation is led by its prime minister, which was then Labour: Göran Persson. Anders Kviele is listed as minister and without any special function. Relatively junior then.
I cannot find any info on when the meeting was held, but it cannot be after 2004 (since Anna Lind is listed as participant- she was murdered in 2004).
http://www.iadb.org/regions/re2/consultative_group/speeches/participants.htm
Sorry, correction of the above. Anders Kviele was listed as mister Anders Kviele, nothing else
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Anyone like to offer a view on this?
Details of the Swedish investigation into the Assange allegations showing there is already evidence within the police protocol (and now in the public domain) that the prosecutors had early on some evidence that the women had synchronised their stories and then one of them changed hers – in a very significant way. This would indicate that the Swedish prosecutors should have closed down their investigation, as there being no case to answer (the original assessment of the first chief prosecutor), at the latest on 25 October 2010 when the results came back from the forensic lab showing that one woman had fabricated evidence to back her claim of a deliberately torn condom.
These are the questions I have asked based on the evidence we have in the public domain. Tell me what you think.
http://rixstep.com/1/20130426,00.shtml
Here’s is Rixstep’s follow-up article, written in the style of a “fiction” piece, but correct in all factual details:
http://rixstep.com/2/1/20130429,00.shtml
I particularly like the section on “cold reading” – that offers a very satisfying and plausible explanation for what happened when Sofia Wilen first contacted Anna Ardin, to me at least.
The interactive timeline embedded in this article is amazing.
Chris Hedges interviews Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy (includes audio clips too).
Chris Hedges, The Death of Truth:
https://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_death_of_truth_20130505/
Yesterday there was quite a lot of publicity in the Swedish press of a case where two boys were acquited (finally – after being convicted twice) when the defence (guess who? Bjorn Hurtig, that’s who) finally did the police and prosecutor’s jobs for them and got mobile phone film evidence that the two girls were lying. Well, today there’s another case being given lots of publicity – this time two girls being PROSECUTED for making false allegations.
http://www.gp.se/nyheter/goteborg/1.1646185-kvinnor-ljog-om-misshandel-atalas (sorry, Google translate required – but it’s quite short)
There’s speculation in Flashback that this – coming so soon after Lindskog’s admission the case is “a mess”, together with all the other recent changes – is how the Swedes have decided to get out of this “mess”, ie. all the government and prosecution figures gradually bail leaving the two women (or just one woman? Where IS Sofia Wilen?) to carry the can for making false allegations. Some people see also – given Ardin’s close political contacts within the Swedish Foreign Office, etc – that this might be the real reason for her panicked sacking of Borgstrom and trying to get herself a new “counsellor”. If she got wind of a high-level change of tactics, the first thing she needed to do was get clear of any obvious scapegoat figures like Borgstrom, who is quite vulnerable in that respect following the Quick scandal.
Julian Burnside QC, reminds Oz lawyers that the Swedes are up to no good in their efforts to capture and render JA to their US friends.
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/news/‘does-anyone-seriously-think-this-is-about-a-broke
I didn’t know that Marianne Ny had travelled to London in order to obtain the EAW in December 2010 (but refused to question Assange while she was there!!)
Can anyone verify that information?
Ooh, this is intriguing. From an interview today with John Shipton, Julian Assange’s father:
Like father, like son:
http://www.altmedia.net.au/wikileaks-goes-to-parliament/75063
I wonder what that “good reason” might be? Baltazar Garzon has been very quiet for months. He must have been working on something though…
Jemand at 12.53 a.m 8 May. That’s really good to know that serious lawyers are suddenly wakening up to the fact that this is a collaborative set-up between Sweden and the US. Alleluia.
Arbed, great news! I wait with baited breath for the reason for such optimism which we have all been fighting for for a long time.
Anna Ardin lashes out at “Jew haters” and Julian Assange’s mother for her ongoing victimisation –
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/i-was-targeted-after-i-made-assange-sex-crime-claim-says-accuser-of-wikileaks-founder-8613006.html
. . . .
John Goss, support for JA in the Oz media is much higher than elsewhere. But as we get closer to the federal election, it will be interesting to see what direction media coverage will take in its reporting of the Wikileaks party.
Who is paying the bill for the police and the electronic monitoring around the Ecuadorian Embassy? Does anyone have the facts? Does Sweden pay any part of it at all?
Thanks Jemand for that Kevin Rawlinson article giving space in The Independent to the poor victimised Anna Ardin. I wonder who the ‘Jew Haters’ are? She’s not Jewish is she?
Hi Axel,
No, the Swedish prosecution doesn’t pay a penny of the “security” arrangements around the Ecuadorian embassy, the UK taxpayer is stiffed with the tab. I take it you’ve read this bit from Chris Hedges The Death of Truth article:
Yeah, that’s about a broken condom (well, two broken condoms actually – from two different women), isn’t it?
I think this Flashback post covers the real reasons for the embassy policing costs quite well (Google translate required for non-Swedish speakers, sorry):
https://www.flashback.org/sp43416340
Flashbackers might also be interested in these two reports of activities outside the embassy in the early days of the siege:
http://darkernet.in/breaking-assange-aviation-police-unit-role-in-ecuador-embassy-police-op/
http://darkernet.in/covert-police-unit-with-links-to-armed-ops-to-infiltrate-supporters-outside-ecuador-embassy/
And Darkernet’s report of the night of the raid itself:
http://darkernet.in/ecuador-embassy-siege-more-evidence-it-was-a-raid-called-off-at-last-moment/
(Personally, I give these reports a great deal of credence. I was up all night myself watching the protesters’ livefeed from outside the embassy, and these reports match what I was witnessing.)
John Goss – Anna Ardin Jewish?
I wouldn’t think so. It seems to me that she wants to conflate those who are commonly disliked (anti-Semitic types) with her critics – a sort of guilt by false association. Her reported statements might be evidence of her preparing for an imminent failure of the prosecution against JA. When the case against JA falls down, sections of the media might not be so shy to ask pointed questions of Ardin. She will no longer be considered a valid complainant and therefore might not be afforded the courtesy of being treated as a genuine victim of crime. I expect her to then mount a campaign that will attempt to justify her complaints to police and explain how the case against JA failed on grounds other than the validity of the complaint.
Jemand, I think she has belonged to Christian democrat circles in the past. However the Independent article is revealing and after reading it I went directly to her blog which I like to visit from time to time. It is revealing. She criticises anti-Israeli groups and anti-Palestinian groups but I think I’m starting to get a picture of where her true loyalties lie.
Craig Murray has today raised the question of the mavi marmara murders by Israeli troops. Duqu commented on the Anna Ardin connection and it would not surprise me if she was the source of providing information to Israeli operatives as co-ordinator of the Swedish contingent.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/05/the-mavi-marmara-murders/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Message for Duqu,
I don’t think many of Craig’s regular readers took in the full import of the information you were giving them on the Mavi Marmara page. I’ve posted a reply to your comment as a prompt, but maybe you could post some links that show Anna Ardin and Niklas Svensson’s direct involvement? – that will help people see the connection.
Arbed, Hi;
John Goss x posted on top thread and I fear I am behind the 8-ball on this. Searched for the March negotiations and found the story.
“The Ecuadorian government has held talks with the British Labour party to try to strike a deal to send Assange to Sweden to end the political impasse, which has seen the Australian whistleblower holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy since claiming asylum in June last year.
The Ecuadorians are setting their sights on a change of government after the 2015 UK election, having “lost all faith” in coming to an agreement with the current coalition.”
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_31/Ecuadorian-diplomats-discuss-with-UK-Assange-Sweden-extradition/
Is JA a part of this negotiation? If Labor gets back in, is this truly a way to resolve? Do you guys trust Labor as much as I trust the Democrats?
Hi Ben,
Frankly? Well, I personally believe that was the Ecuadorians having a bit of fun. Apparently, they sprung it on a rather startled bunch of Labour MPs right at the end of a meeting. The MPs wittered afterwards “the meeting was called to discuss other issues entirely. That wasn’t even on the agenda.”
A slightly michievous way of getting the issue back on the frontpage of the UK press and generating embarrassing headlines for the UK govt?
But that’s just my personal opinion.
I hope your assessment is correct, Arbed. Keep up the good work. Don’t worry about x posting on a new thread. After a day of hanging around, craig is no longer interested.
Anna Ardin´s involvement in the Mavi Mara affair will come as no surprise. Niklas Svensson and the right wing Expressen newspaper are staunchly pro – Israel. That he was wisked away so easily says it all. She has of late been trying to make a political come back but the establisment is too embarassed to gear to her.
Make no mistake the swedish establishment will never allow a trail to take place. It will make this country the laughing stock of the civilized world, and they know that!!! They have also been trying to export their skewd “equality shit” internationally since the political neutrality game is over.
On the one hand they pummel a weak opponent in the Eritrean government, glorify Raoul Wallenberg while hiding their dirt linen of collaborating with the Nazis and hold Assange hostage at the behest of their grand masters in Washington.
Barack Obama and Eric Holder are welcome as black men to taste everyday Sweden. They will thank their lucky stars they were born on the other side of the Atlantic. They should humbly thank the black masses whose sacrifice put them in their current caviar eating positions.
http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2012/06/national-archives-to-keep-jfk-secrets.html
“As you know, the JFK Act authorized unprecedented powers for the ARRB, including the ability to overturn an agency decision on declassification, with the President as the only appeal authority. Although agencies did appeal ARRB decisions, President Clinton did not overturn any access determinations on appeal. The power wielded by the ARRB meant that more records were declassified and made available under the JFK Act than would have been released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or any currently applicable review provision of the prior or current Executive Order on Classified National Security Information.
“As previously mentioned, the 1,171 remaining postponed documents will be released in 2017, unless the President personally certifies on a document by document basis that continued postponement is necessary and that the harm from disclosure is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Moreover, as you point out, the JFK Act clearly intended for periodic releases prior to the 2017 date. To date all of the periodic release dates have been met, including in 2006, when the CIA made preemptory releases of all documents that were postponed from release until 2010. Thus, the only documents in the Collection that are still withheld in full for classification reasons are the 1,171 CIA documents that the ARRB agreed should not be released until 2017.
Obama, lacking the intestinal fortitude of JFK, fears the CIA. He has kicked the can down the road, once again. The 50th anniversary of JFK’s murder would have been the appropriate date of release.
“The possibility that portions of the Manning trial will take place in secret is all the more troubling because the trial will touch on issues of grave concern to U.S. journalists–in particular, whether the act of releasing classified documents to the public violates the 1917 Espionage Act and is tantamount to “aiding the enemy,” a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Espionage Act, under which civilians but not (so far) journalists have been prosecuted, makes it a crime to “communicate” information, but the word “publish” was deliberately omitted from the statute by Congress, according to the legislative history.”
https://www.cpj.org/blog/2013/05/transparency-accountability-at-stake-in-manning-tr.php
Anna Ardin now removing tweets linking her to the Gaza massacre:
https://twitter.com/rixstepnews/status/335596651634909184
If you follow the links provided you’ll see which ones (Duqu has caught some via the Wayback machine).
She seems to make a habit of deleting embarrassing evidence (which I’m sure in some cases is a crime in itself): 7 Steps to Revenge; apres-‘assault’ tweets boasting of Assange association; nude ‘trophy’ photo on Facebook page; latterly, ‘penis shoes’; tweets comparing Assange to a paedophile; links to the forthcoming Alex Gibney documentary in which she appears. Here’s her latest pronouncement:
@therealardin
väljer du mendax som alias bör du veta några synonymer; deceiving, dishonest, false, insincere, invented, made up, perverted, void of truth
Seriously. She really thinks a good way to go about defaming someone is to spell out the meaning of their teenage nickname? Yeah, that’ll hold up in court when someone mentions you handed the police ‘evidence’ of a torn condom that has no DNA on it – not even your own.
In an answer to Ardins latest stunt….
@prataomdet
väljer du simonratu som alias bör du veta några synonymer; deceiving, dishonest, false, insincere, invented, made up, perverted, void of truth
(simonratu was the name ardin aka anna bernadin was using in aug/sept-2010 when she started the 1st round of deleting..)