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Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by jacquesm on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @11:07AM (#1979439)
When a rape trial starts out with something that is not a rape then 'level-headed' went out the window before the trial got started.
Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by eru on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @11:33AM (#1979523)
Isn't the job of an x-trial to find out, whether x has happened?
Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by jacquesm on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @11:42AM (#1979563)
Yes, normally it is. In this case the definition of 'rape' has apparently been stretched well beyond the breaking point, to where the victim will throw a party for the perp only to go to the police several days later after colluding with another victim. Let's just say that I find the charge sufficiently heavy that I would expect the bar for being charged with this crime to be considerably higher than what is seen so far.

And that's totally besides my views on wikileaks, Julian Assange or anything else.

Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by philwelch on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @12:40PM (#1979792)
Wikipedia: "it is alleged that while having consensual sex his condom broke and he either did not disclose the breakage to his partner or continued after his partner asked him to stop."

"Continued after his partner asked him to stop" is rape by definition. "Did not disclose the breakage to his partner" may not technically be rape, but I'm comfortable characterizing it as sexual assault. In either case, it sounds like an allegation worth prosecuting--and that's totally besides my views on Wikileaks, Julian Assange, or anything else.

Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by jacquesm on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @12:52PM (#1979843)
I'm with you so far.

According to this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/07/assange-bail-req...

Which has the actual charges in it there was a second occasion with the same lady, this stretches credulity I believe, one count of rape with one person according to this definition I could believe, but two are at a minimum a little strange and would require some pretty fancy footwork to be explained away. Especially with the victim throwing a party for the perp between the two occasions.

The fact that the witnesses colluded and that Assange apparently was at their places at their invitation and that he undoubtedly was not aware of any of these laws and that at least one of the women definitely was (and tweeted all over the place about it) makes this all very sordid (pardon the pun) indeed and not nearly as clear-cut as you might think at first glance.

Personally I think Julian Assange is an idiot for behaving like this while knowing he's under the microscope but given that the flesh is weak and that these women apparently only decided to go to the police after comparing notes makes the whole thing something that may have been harder to avoid than it looks.

The case is so shaky that one Swedish prosecutor already overruled another and dropped it only to have it revived again without knowledge or consent of the victims.

Pretty weird if you ask me.

Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by philwelch on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @02:35PM (#1980271)
The fact that the witnesses colluded

...is not in the least bit suspicious, if you know anything about the psychology of rape survivors. Believe it or not, most people who have been through that situation don't really want to relive it over and over again throughout a prolonged trial. (Conversely, it's pretty easy to psychologically pressure a rape survivor into not pressing charges, or into dropping charges.) One of the only things that will actually motivate a survivor to press charges is if they discover their rapist attacked someone else, because then it's a pattern of behavior and one feels responsible to come forward so he won't rape anyone else.

If you want to go with the conspiracy theory that the CIA bribed two Swedish women to file false charges against Julian Assange just to stop Wikileaks, that's up to you. Frankly, I think that's in the same realm of plausibility as the idea that Julian Assange just happens to be a rapist. And, more to the point, this kind of uncertainty is exactly why we have trials to begin with.

Re:Assange arrested in London (BBC) by jacquesm on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @02:44PM (#1980302)
> If you want to go with the conspiracy theory that the CIA bribed two Swedish women to file false charges against Julian Assange just to stop Wikileaks, that's up to you.

I intend no such thing.