{"id":228736,"date":"2023-02-06T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228736"},"modified":"2023-02-05T06:31:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T06:31:13","slug":"watch-swedish-prosecutors-destroyed-assange-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/02\/watch-swedish-prosecutors-destroyed-assange-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Swedish Prosecutors Destroyed Assange Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below is a 35-minute interview with Stefania Maurizi for The Dissenter<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zJSu37Gc6eQ
\n3 Feb 2023 – <\/em>Swedish prosecutors destroyed copies of email correspondence related to the extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi.<\/p>\n

The documents were destroyed while Maurizi was litigating her freedom of information request, making it “highly suspicious.”<\/p>\n

Maurizi uncovered<\/a> this major revelation during a hearing in her lawsuit against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the United Kingdom, the very agency that is representing the United States in its effort to bring Assange to trial on Espionage Act charges.<\/p>\n

So far, both CPS and the Swedish Prosecution Authority have blocked the release of any documents between UK authorities and US authorities or Swedish authorities and US authorities.<\/p>\n

In particular, the correspondence stems from the time period, where Assange was faced with extradition as part of a Swedish investigation into sexual assault allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 2010 to 2015, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Swedish Prosecution Authority exchanged between 7,200 and 9,600 pages of correspondence,\u201d Maurizi reported for the Italian daily newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 8 years of our FOIA battle, we have obtained just 551 pages from the CPS and 1373 pages from the SPA,\u201d Maurizi added. \u201cOf these, 1373 pages of documents from the SPA, only 310 pages represent correspondence between the SPA and CPS. Which means we have barely obtained the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Press photo from the Swedish Prosecution Authority. Fair use for news and commentary purposes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Hiding FBI Correspondence<\/h3>\n

Maurizi also reported, Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny deleted an email from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March 2017. The Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed it was sent by an FBI executive and \u201creached a chief prosecutor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appeals court peculiarly claimed an FBI executive sought information that Swedish prosecutors told the FBI was available on the SPA\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Maurizi chronicles her effort to obtain documents in Secret Power: WikiLeaks and Its Enemies<\/em>. She said in an interview for The Dissenter, \u201cWhy did the Swedish prosecutor destroy this correspondence with the FBI?\u201d And what else did they destroy? \u201cBecause they claim there was no further correspondence, but how can we believe them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until the latest proceeding, the Swedish Prosecution Authority (SPA) had denied that such correspondence between Swedish prosecutors and US authorities existed.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Maurizi obtained a small number of documents from Swedish prosecutors in response to her freedom of information request that exposed how Paul Close, a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service\u2019s Special Crime Division, had advised prosecutors in Sweden not to question Assange while he was living under political asylum in the Ecuador embassy in London.<\/p>\n

As Maurizi puts it, the division that was responsible for prosecuting high-profile cases advised Swedish prosecutors \u201cagainst the only legal strategy that could have brought the case to a rapid resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader who is part of a powerful faction that purged Jeremy Corbyn and other left-leaning Labour Party members from leadership positions, led the CPS Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical decisions and advice on the Julian Assange case were provided by the Crown Prosecution Service between 2010 and 2013, when it was headed by Keir Starmer,\u201d Maurizi declared. \u201cWhat role, if any, did Starmer play in the case?<\/p>\n

The truth may never be known. Back in 2015, Maurizi \u201cdiscovered that the Crown Prosecution Service had deleted all data associated with Paul Close\u2019s email account, which cannot be recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK judge presiding over the freedom of information litigation, according to Maurizi, said \u201cthere was nothing untoward,\u201d and would not order an investigation into CPS\u2019s destruction of documents.<\/p>\n

Human rights attorney Michael Ratner, who represented WikiLeaks until he died in 2016, maintained<\/a> from 2012 to 2016, \u201cIf Julian Assange were to go to Sweden, he would be put in jail immediately. He is not allowed to get bail in Sweden. Let\u2019s understand that. He would be in prison in Sweden, and he could no longer apply for asylum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, the US files its extradition request. Julian Assange never sees the light of day and winds up going to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The destruction\u2014and concealing\u2014of documents by Swedish prosecutors appears to further demonstrate how correct Ratner was in his advice to Assange to seek political asylum from Ecuador and not go to Sweden for questioning.<\/p>\n

‘In Cahoots’ with Nils Melzer<\/h3>\n

Since 2017, Maurizi has been fighting in court for documents. She said this hearing was the first time a Crown prosecutor chose to question her.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The prosecutor tried] to put me in a light that I was basically in cahoots with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer,\u201d Maurizi recalled.<\/p>\n

British authorities maintain the correspondence should only be released while the extradition case is still unfolding if it would reveal \u201cserious misconduct\u201d committed by the state requesting Assange. Maurizi\u2019s lawyer Estelle Dehon argued that is clearly the case and referred to the evidence that Melzer compiled.<\/p>\n

This evidence was laid out for the world in Melzer’s acclaimed book, The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, the Crown Prosecution Service tried to make the argument that Nils Melzer is biased, and of course, is in contact with Maurizi, with me, because he endorsed my book. In his endorsement, he said that my investigative work contributed to his investigation,\u201d Maurizi said.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Crown prosecutors have tried to diminish the credibility of individuals who may undermine their effort to secure Assange\u2019s extradition.<\/p>\n

During a month-long extradition trial in September 2020, Crown prosecutor James Lewis QC sought to discredit the assessments of psychiatrist Michael Kopelman by accusing him of relying on Melzer\u2019s work, which he maintained was \u201cneither balanced nor accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more bizarre is the fact that Maurizi\u2019s attorney asked the Crown Prosecution Service\u2019s head of extradition if they were involved \u201cdirectly in the extradition of Assange.\u201d They claimed they were not part of any \u201coperative\u201d decision-making and then described Maurizi\u2019s book as \u201cvery powerful and moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurizi wondered, why has the Crown Prosecution Service proceeded with the case if the head of extradition finds my book to be moving?<\/p>\n