Julian Assange’s lawyer tells extradition appeal arrest warrant is invalid
The GuardianRoyal Courts of Justice, 12 July 2011 by Robert Booth (Excerpts)
The European arrest warrant issued for the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is invalid, the high court was told on Tuesday, because of significant discrepancies between its allegations of sexual assault and rape and the testimonies of two women he allegedly had sex with.
The warrant details four allegations of unlawful coercion, sexual molestation and rape, relating to encounters between Assange and two Swedish women while on a trip to Stockholm last August.
But Ben Emmerson QC, for Assange, said the warrant was a misinterpretation of the evidence and it was "surprising and disturbing" that Swedish district judges who requested Assange’s extradition had been misled.
Emmerson told Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Ousely that there was no evidence about there being a lack of consent in the encounters as appeared to be suggested in the wording of the arrest warrant. He said three of the allegations would not amount to criminal offences under English law.
Emmerson said: "The senior district judge found that those factual allegations would establish dual criminality on the basis that lack of consent, and lack of reasonable belief in consent, may properly be inferred from the conduct described, particularly the references to ’violence’ and a ’design’ to ’violate sexual integrity’. However, that description of conduct is not accurate. The arrest warrant misstates the conduct and is, by that reason alone, an invalid warrant."
Emmerson examined the witness testimonies of the encounters in graphic detail.
Emmerson told the court the case did not hinge on whether Assange accepted this version of events and others relating to other incidents because there were no charges against him, but whether the arrest warrant in connection with them was valid on "strict and narrow" legal grounds.
Read the original article in full in The Guardian.
