“The leak of the police report to The Guardian was clearly designed to undermine my bail application. It was timed to come up on the desk of the judge that morning,’’ Assange was quoted as saying in yesterday’s paper. “Someone in authority clearly intended to keep Julian in prison and shopped [the report] around to other newspapers as well.’’
Assange, who is contesting a Swedish extradition bid, was freed on bail last week under strict conditions, including that he stay at the home of a supporter in southern England.
Swedish officials want to question Assange about allegations stemming from separate encounters with two women over the summer. The women have accused Assange of sexual crimes including rape, molestation, and unlawful coercion. Assange denies the allegations, which his lawyers say stem from a dispute over “consensual but unprotected sex.’’ He has not been charged.
The Times quoted Assange as saying there is “very suggestive evidence’’ that the two women were motivated by revenge, money, and police pressure.
In an editorial, The Guardian defended its coverage, saying it “is unusual for a sex-offense case to be presented outside of the judicial process in such a manner, but then it is unheard of for a defendant, his legal team, and supporters to so vehemently and publicly attack women at the heart of a rape case.’’
Swedish Director of Prosecution Marianne Ny said she did not know how The Guardian obtained its information.
In a BBC interview aired yesterday, Assange said he believed the women behind the allegations “found out that they were mutual lovers of mine and they had unprotected sex and they got into a tizzy about whether there was a possibility of sexually transmitted diseases.’’
The women’s lawyer, Claes Borgstrom, has said they went through similar experiences with Assange and decided to go to the police together to seek advice on what to do. A policewoman who heard their accounts decided that Assange had probably committed a sex crime and passed the case to a prosecutor.
Borgstrom has criticized Assange for suggesting that the allegations are part of a smear campaign against him and WikiLeaks. She says the case has nothing to do with the website or any conspiracy against it.
Asked by the Times whether he is promiscuous, Assange replied: “I am not promiscuous. I just really like women.’’
READER COMMENTS »
View reader comments » Comment on this story »