Melzer goes into detail about how the women didn't accuse him of rape.

It's worth engaging in the facts on this issue, rather than gripping onto a received narrative in dismissive fashion, and the interview really goes into significant detail, including behind-the-scenes behaviour of Sweden that Melzer was privy to as UN Special Rapporteur on torture.

It's one of those articles where people go in with the perspective you show here, and come out the end of it stunned by the truth of Assange's unjust treatment.

In fact Melzer starts out by stating he began with the same attitude, initially refusing the case as "My impression, largely influenced by the media, was also colored by the prejudice that Julian Assange was somehow guilty and that he wanted to manipulate me."

It is probably one of the best summaries of his case I've read, from a highly credible, independent investigator:

https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikilea...

He was accused of initiating sex without using a condom following an explicit request for him to use a condom. The High Court judged that this action certainly constituted rape under UK law. It is also a crime under Swedish law (though I don't know how different levels of sexual assault / rape are classified in Sweden).

It's always surprising to see just how grubby Assange's defenders are willing to get, up to and including rape apologism.

There's a demonstrated lack of understanding around important details of this case in your responses.

The accusation you raise is a key part of the interview with Melzer.

The original witness statement was intentionally destroyed, and the supervisor of the policewoman who conducted the questioning wrote an email telling her to rewrite the statement.

(The original copies of the mail exchanges between the Swedish police are actually displayed in the article.)

The statement that forms the basis of that claim "was edited without the involvement of the woman in question and it wasn’t signed by her. It is a manipulated piece of evidence out of which the Swedish authorities then constructed a story of rape."

As to your attempted lazy smearing – it doesn't really do you any favours here.

As a final plea, perhaps read-up on the details so you can get a better understanding of the case:

https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikilea...

The key evidence comes from text messages and testimony from people other than the two alleged victims.

If indeed this evidence was all fabricated (I doubt it, but who knows), then the best venue for evaluating that claim would have been a Swedish court.

Now we will never really know exactly how strong the case was. But it was strong enough to justify bringing Assange to trial, and he has done himself no favours by hiding in an embassy for seven years.