Assange accuser may have ceased co-operating (moved to West Bank)

[kpete]

Source: Crikey

Thursday, 9 December 2010 / 49 comments
Assange accuser may have ceased co-operating
by Guy Rundle

Anna Ardin, one of the two complainants in the rape and sexual assault case against WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, has left Sweden, and may have ceased actively co-operating with the Swedish prosecution service and her own lawyer, sources in Sweden told Crikey today.

...............

Ardin, who also goes by the name Bernardin, has moved to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group, aimed at bringing reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. She has moved to the small town of Yanoun, which sits close to Israel’s security/sequestration wall. Yanoun is constantly besieged by fundamentalist Jewish settlers, and international groups have frequently stationed themselves there.

Attempts by Crikey to contact Ardin by phone, fax, email and twitter were unsuccessful today.

...........

One source from Ardin’s old university of Uppsala reported rumors that she had stopped co-operating with the prosecution service several weeks ago, and that this was part of the reason for the long delay in proceeding with charges — and what still appears to be an absence of charges.



Read more: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/09/rundle-r-pe-case-complainant-has-left-sweden-may-have-ceased-co-operating/

[Blue_Tires]

1. this case is getting stranger by the minute...

[Lance_Boyle]

2. Christian outreach group?

Maybe the "Christian" Intelligence Agency...

Wonder if this has any impact on the UK's deliberations over extradition to Sweden (aka Langley Nord).

[CJvR]

3. No.

She might have gone into hiding, quite understandably, but there is no breakup - it is just that she has been heard so there is nothing more to do at this time. Atleast until Assange is heard which might take a while, he seems to prefer his cell to answering questions.

[EFerrari]

4. Wrong. Assange stayed in Sweden for weeks to deal with this

but it did not go forward.

[CJvR]

8. And when it did...

...he was nowhere to be found.

If he indeed is so eager to "deal with this" then it is a short trip to Sweden from the UK.

[EFerrari]

11. Wrong again. He left Sweden with permission

and his lawyers were in communication with both Swedish and British authorities.

[CJvR]

16. So?

He is in a UK jail now only because he refused to go to Sweden for interrogation.

[EFerrari]

18. Are you complaining that he didn't lay down on the railroad track

for this corrupt bullsh!t?

In that case, you're right. He didn't. But he was never hiding from anything.

[Bragi]

5. Yeah right, Assange is hiding in jail!

What a bizarre claim.

The guy is arrested on trumped up charges, held with minimal access to even his lawyers, and now the opponents of transparency imply he's refusing to speak!

Will the madness ever end...

[CJvR]

9. It is obvious...

...that Assange prefers a British cell to a Swedish interrogation.

[go west young man]

10. I guess he was afraid during the time he spent in Sweden

making himself available to answer any charges before he left for the U.K.
where he informed the British authorities of his whereabouts and then
proceeded to turn himself in to deal with the charges. He sounds like
one seriously unavailable dude. Have you even kept up with the story?

[CJvR]

15. Yes...

And he dealt with the charges by refusing to go to Sweden for an interrogation, which is why he is in jail waiting for a hearing on extradition.

[Bragi]

21. This is definitely misinformation, but why?

The question in my mind is whether this misinformation is because the poster doesn't know the facts, or is this deliberate?

[CJvR]

24. Okay.

What do you think the facts are?

[EFerrari]

13. Baloney. That's simply false. n/t

[loudsue]

17. TPTB are sure doing their damndest to try to get the average Jo to hate Assange.

Too bad for them he's already a hero to those of us who really care.

[canetoad]

6. Yep, sure he prefers his cell

That is why there are a team of very expensive lawyers trying to get him out of it. What a silly comment.

[Kali]

7. lazy, sorry - was she the one connected to the cuba/cia thing?

[EFerrari]

12. Yep. Anna Ardin. n/t

[Recursion]

14. She's in an anti-Castro group, yes

Find one of those that's not somehow "linked to the CIA" and you win a prize.

[glinda]

19. She did her job and delivered Assange to a cell. That is all that was required and

I wonder how much money she got after doing that? They don't need her now. She did what she was supposed to do. Period. She actually should be prosecuted IMHO.

[daleo]

20. I think your hypothesis has merit

I am inclined to the view that the legal proceedings are meant as general harassment and a way to smear Wikileaks reputation. The state (or the combined actions of several states) can lock people away for a while without any serious intention of prosecution. This trick is used against legitimate protest during G20 meetings and the like. The absence of this prosecution witness tends to support that view.

It is intended to "send a message", though it sometimes backfires, and just lends legitimacy to the protesters.

[snagglepuss]

22. The link to CIA is oulined in Counterpunch. BTW the entire article worth reading.

snip

Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes that the group is connected with Union Liberal Cubana led by Carlos Alberto Montaner whose CIA ties were exposed here. Note that Ardin was deported from Cuba for subversive activities. In Cuba she interacted with the feminist anti-Castro group Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White). This group receives US government funds and the convicted anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is a friend and supporter. Wikipedia quotes Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo as saying that “the so-called Ladies in White defend the terrorism of the United States.”




http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html

[Recursion]

23. Umm... exactly, "linking" anti-Castro groups with the CIA...

... is like "linking" Islamic charities with Hamas: generally easy to do, and totally meaningless.