Swedish court upholds detention order against Julian Assange
A Stockholm city court upheld a detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Wednesday, rejecting a challenge mounted by Assange’s legal team. Judge Lena Egelin deliberated for barely an hour before turning down the legal challenge. ● “The court believes there is probable cause for the crimes of which he is accused,” Egelin said. Assange’s lawyers have already announced that they will appeal the decision. ● June 19 marked two years since Assange was forced to take refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid transfer to Sweden followed by extradition to the US to face espionage charges punishable by life in prison or even death. The detention order upheld by Judge Egelin stems from trumped-up sexual assault allegations relating to two women with whom Assange stayed in August of 2010. ● Lawyers for Assange argued that Swedish prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence that their client committed any form of sexual assault to demand that he return to Sweden. According to one of Assange’s lawyers, Swedish police reports show that one of the accusers later said she was “railroaded” by the authorities into making the sexual assault allegations. Documents filed by the lawyers also asserted that text messages sent by one of the accusers indicated her opposition to the filing of an arrest warrant. “The message strongly suggests that there is no basis for the arrest,” the lawyers wrote.A substantial body of evidence supports the position of the Assange defense team.