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>This guy is a hero, he has committed no crime other than honest reporting. Just because you like his reporting doesn't mean he's innocent of any crimes he's b

>This guy is a hero, he has committed no crime other than honest reporting. Just because you like his reporting doesn't mean he's innocent of any crimes he's been accused of, especially not when those crimes are unrelated to his reporting. That's like saying Kobe Bryant was innocent of sexual assault just because he was a great basketball player. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant_sexual_assault_case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant_sexual_assault_cas...

nsajko 7y ago
In fact I think that hero worship and "protection"[0] that fans try to give to their favorite celebrity or politician contributes to "heros" feeling above social norms and other persons, and thus, eg., sexual assault or fraud or theft happen. [0] I am referring to the attacks on accusers in such cases.
- rendall 7y ago
  I'm not sure what you're saying, here. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reports on actual subversion of democracy and principles, and random people keep FUDding about. It's not about fanboys, basketball players, nor even sexual assault.
thiagoharry 7y ago
Wow. Was the basketball player also suffering persecution by CIA or FBI because he offered some kind of menace to geopolitical interests of a great power and these accusations also happened in very strange timings and circunstances?
cassianoleal 7y ago
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture interviewed for the article makes a pretty convincing picture that Assange was unlikely guilty of any of the crimes he's been accused of. He also makes it quite clear that he didn't think of himself to be above the law, having tried to submit himself to the justice system on several occasions.
- Fjolsvith 7y ago
  > The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture interviewed for the article makes a pretty convincing picture that Assange was unlikely guilty of any of the crimes he's been accused of. Then if he's not guilty, let it be shown so at trial, and not at the say of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
  - tremon 7y ago
    That's not how it works. Do we need to establish a trial before we can show your innocence in this case too? If he is guilty, then let it be shown so at trial. In absence of such a trial, he is not guilty. But such a trial will not happen, and was probably never intended to happen. Yet it shows how effective the media campaign against him has been: The Swedish state spent almost a decade intentionally presenting Julian Assange to the public as a sex offender. Then, they suddenly abandoned the case against him on the strength of the same argument that the first Stockholm prosecutor used in 2010, when she initially suspended the investigation after just five days
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - xrd 7y ago
    You should read what Snowden has to say about a fair trial in his case. I think the same thing might apply here.
  - eindiran 7y ago
    There's this incredibly inconvenient thing in Anglo-American jurisprudence called "burden of proof". In criminal cases, until you show that the defendant is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt", you have to act like they're not guilty: also known as the presumption of innocence. "Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit non qui negat" (Latin for "the burden of proof is for the one who makes the claim, not the one who denies it"). See the links below, making special note of the fact that the "reasonable doubt" standard applies in both countries relevant to this case, the UK and the US (with the caveat that judges in the UK don't use the phrase anymore post-2008): [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_doubt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_doubt [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence
mr_woozy 7y ago
there's a standard procedure for prosecution of sexual crimes in Sweden. The police did not follow it, nor any of the other relevant procedures that are used for all other cases in Sweden. There are numerous emails implicitly showing international pressure to hold the case open for years without allowing Assange to testify or resolve the case legally. How you think that is somehow similar to Kobe Bryant is beyond me. Did you read the article before commenting? Or do you like making vacuous statements with the intention of informing everyone here what a knee-jerk uninformed response looks like?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
oh_sigh 7y ago
Consider that kobe was never found guilty in a court of law. So I'm not sure how you know he is a sexual assaulter.
deleted 7y ago
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nsajko 7y ago

In fact I think that hero worship and "protection"[0] that fans try to give to their favorite celebrity or politician contributes to "heros" feeling above social norms and other persons, and thus, eg., sexual assault or fraud or theft happen. [0] I am referring to the attacks on accusers in such cases.

rendall 7y ago
I'm not sure what you're saying, here. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reports on actual subversion of democracy and principles, and random people keep FUDding about. It's not about fanboys, basketball players, nor even sexual assault.

thiagoharry 7y ago

Wow. Was the basketball player also suffering persecution by CIA or FBI because he offered some kind of menace to geopolitical interests of a great power and these accusations also happened in very strange timings and circunstances?

cassianoleal 7y ago

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture interviewed for the article makes a pretty convincing picture that Assange was unlikely guilty of any of the crimes he's been accused of. He also makes it quite clear that he didn't think of himself to be above the law, having tried to submit himself to the justice system on several occasions.

Fjolsvith 7y ago
> The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture interviewed for the article makes a pretty convincing picture that Assange was unlikely guilty of any of the crimes he's been accused of. Then if he's not guilty, let it be shown so at trial, and not at the say of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
- tremon 7y ago
  That's not how it works. Do we need to establish a trial before we can show your innocence in this case too? If he is guilty, then let it be shown so at trial. In absence of such a trial, he is not guilty. But such a trial will not happen, and was probably never intended to happen. Yet it shows how effective the media campaign against him has been: The Swedish state spent almost a decade intentionally presenting Julian Assange to the public as a sex offender. Then, they suddenly abandoned the case against him on the strength of the same argument that the first Stockholm prosecutor used in 2010, when she initially suspended the investigation after just five days
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- xrd 7y ago
  You should read what Snowden has to say about a fair trial in his case. I think the same thing might apply here.
- eindiran 7y ago
  There's this incredibly inconvenient thing in Anglo-American jurisprudence called "burden of proof". In criminal cases, until you show that the defendant is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt", you have to act like they're not guilty: also known as the presumption of innocence. "Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit non qui negat" (Latin for "the burden of proof is for the one who makes the claim, not the one who denies it"). See the links below, making special note of the fact that the "reasonable doubt" standard applies in both countries relevant to this case, the UK and the US (with the caveat that judges in the UK don't use the phrase anymore post-2008): [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_doubt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_doubt [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence

mr_woozy 7y ago

there's a standard procedure for prosecution of sexual crimes in Sweden. The police did not follow it, nor any of the other relevant procedures that are used for all other cases in Sweden. There are numerous emails implicitly showing international pressure to hold the case open for years without allowing Assange to testify or resolve the case legally. How you think that is somehow similar to Kobe Bryant is beyond me. Did you read the article before commenting? Or do you like making vacuous statements with the intention of informing everyone here what a knee-jerk uninformed response looks like?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

oh_sigh 7y ago

Consider that kobe was never found guilty in a court of law. So I'm not sure how you know he is a sexual assaulter.

deleted 7y ago

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