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"My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview," Marianne Ny said i

"My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview," Marianne Ny said in a statement. Can anyone explain to me why they couldn't simply question him over a teleconferencing connection? Are they seriously claiming that this has gone on as long as it has simply because they couldn't figure out a way to talk to him? This seems ludicrous.

godgod 12y ago
He's been kept in limbo at the direction of the US government. You don't mess with the bull and not get the horns. If you keep in mind that this is a man exposing some of the deepest darkest secrets of the most powerful governments in the world...is there nothing they would do to silence him? Rape seems like a good charge as any.
netcan 12y ago
It's even worse than that. I believe before he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy, he offered to cooperate with the investigation in the UK. Swede could have sent investigators to interview him in person. The UK police would have assisted. They could have gone further with their investigation, without extradition. The worst part of this is Australia's role. Where are they in protecting their citizen? Can you imagine an American journalist (wikileaks is journalism) pissing off the German Government, then being subjected to these insane attempts at extradition without the US stepping in? Australia need to arrange safe passage for Assange to Australia and guarantee him his legal rights.
- koenigdavidmj 12y ago
  > Where are they in protecting their citizen? Australia fails to do anything when their citizens are killed for a bit of cannabis, about as blatantly disproportionate as a government could possibly get. They're in a perfect position to economically encourage Indonesia to be reasonable, and they would have the backing of a fair bit of the western world. And yet they don't do anything. Why would you think they would do anything when it's less politically expedient?
  - pvnick 12y ago
    It's interesting you mentioned that. I'm backpacking around Europe right now (doing the whole digital nomad thing) and every Australian I've met has had zero sympathy for those guys who got caught in Indonesia. Could it be that the political pressure simply isn't there? It's also entirely possible that widespread opinion is much more diverse than the sunset of the population I've met while in Europe.
    - satori99 12y ago
      I would say the opposite based on all the people of I have spoken to about it in Sydney over the last month or so. Noone is saying they shouldn't be punished for their crime, but all indications are that the two Australians currently on death row in Indonesia have been genuinely reformed during their decade in prison. One is now a pastor, and the other has completed a fine arts degree. And many of their fellow prisoners speak highly of them. Some Indonesian prisoners have even offered to be killed in their place. I think the outrage about their imminient executions is due to the fact that Indonesia is about to execute two men who have shown they can both be valuable members of society. The Australian government is now offering to pay the costs of keeping them in prison for life, but I doubt that will have any sway with the Indonesian government.
  - ecdavis 12y ago
    > Australia fails to do anything when their citizens are killed for a bit of cannabis When has this happened? I know Schapelle Corby served 9 years for cannabis trafficking, and I know there are two Australian men facing execution for heroin trafficking. Have Australians been executed for cannabis trafficking?
xorcist 12y ago
Because it is during this interview that the prosecutor makes it official what you are or are not accused of. If this was made over telephone to a foreign country, odds are that what is now a suspect would not come to the questioning. That's why you are required to be present in person. A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? The anwer to that is probably that the justice system can be inflexible and slow moving at times. (I hesitate to take stronger words in my mouth, but those may be true as well.) Ludicrous or not, all justice systems have their reasons why they work in a certain way.
- lepidoptera 12y ago
  > A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? He was interviewed during this period, and the transcript of the police interview was leaked onto the internet: http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn After the interview the allegations were dropped, but then the prosecutor reopened them. And he didn't stay there just for a week after that. He stayed there over a month, and only left after having been given permission to leave by the prosecutor. It's all in this court document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case
- im3w1l 12y ago
  For those without showdead, lepidoptera[noobtor] wrote: > A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? He was interviewed during this period, and the transcript of the police interview was leaked onto the internet: http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn After the interview the allegations were dropped, but then the prosecutor reopened them. And he didn't stay there just for a week after that. He stayed there over a month, and only left after having been given permission to leave by the prosecutor. It's all in this court document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case
- 12y ago

godgod 12y ago

He's been kept in limbo at the direction of the US government. You don't mess with the bull and not get the horns. If you keep in mind that this is a man exposing some of the deepest darkest secrets of the most powerful governments in the world...is there nothing they would do to silence him? Rape seems like a good charge as any.

netcan 12y ago

It's even worse than that. I believe before he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy, he offered to cooperate with the investigation in the UK. Swede could have sent investigators to interview him in person. The UK police would have assisted. They could have gone further with their investigation, without extradition. The worst part of this is Australia's role. Where are they in protecting their citizen? Can you imagine an American journalist (wikileaks is journalism) pissing off the German Government, then being subjected to these insane attempts at extradition without the US stepping in? Australia need to arrange safe passage for Assange to Australia and guarantee him his legal rights.

koenigdavidmj 12y ago
> Where are they in protecting their citizen? Australia fails to do anything when their citizens are killed for a bit of cannabis, about as blatantly disproportionate as a government could possibly get. They're in a perfect position to economically encourage Indonesia to be reasonable, and they would have the backing of a fair bit of the western world. And yet they don't do anything. Why would you think they would do anything when it's less politically expedient?
- pvnick 12y ago
  It's interesting you mentioned that. I'm backpacking around Europe right now (doing the whole digital nomad thing) and every Australian I've met has had zero sympathy for those guys who got caught in Indonesia. Could it be that the political pressure simply isn't there? It's also entirely possible that widespread opinion is much more diverse than the sunset of the population I've met while in Europe.
  - satori99 12y ago
    I would say the opposite based on all the people of I have spoken to about it in Sydney over the last month or so. Noone is saying they shouldn't be punished for their crime, but all indications are that the two Australians currently on death row in Indonesia have been genuinely reformed during their decade in prison. One is now a pastor, and the other has completed a fine arts degree. And many of their fellow prisoners speak highly of them. Some Indonesian prisoners have even offered to be killed in their place. I think the outrage about their imminient executions is due to the fact that Indonesia is about to execute two men who have shown they can both be valuable members of society. The Australian government is now offering to pay the costs of keeping them in prison for life, but I doubt that will have any sway with the Indonesian government.
- ecdavis 12y ago
  > Australia fails to do anything when their citizens are killed for a bit of cannabis When has this happened? I know Schapelle Corby served 9 years for cannabis trafficking, and I know there are two Australian men facing execution for heroin trafficking. Have Australians been executed for cannabis trafficking?

xorcist 12y ago

Because it is during this interview that the prosecutor makes it official what you are or are not accused of. If this was made over telephone to a foreign country, odds are that what is now a suspect would not come to the questioning. That's why you are required to be present in person. A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? The anwer to that is probably that the justice system can be inflexible and slow moving at times. (I hesitate to take stronger words in my mouth, but those may be true as well.) Ludicrous or not, all justice systems have their reasons why they work in a certain way.

lepidoptera 12y ago
> A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? He was interviewed during this period, and the transcript of the police interview was leaked onto the internet: http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn After the interview the allegations were dropped, but then the prosecutor reopened them. And he didn't stay there just for a week after that. He stayed there over a month, and only left after having been given permission to leave by the prosecutor. It's all in this court document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case
im3w1l 12y ago
For those without showdead, lepidoptera[noobtor] wrote: > A better question would be why the prosecutor didn't conduct this interview during the week the stayed in Sweden after the accusations were officially in the media? He was interviewed during this period, and the transcript of the police interview was leaked onto the internet: http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn http://pastebin.com/HAc6HjVn After the interview the allegations were dropped, but then the prosecutor reopened them. And he didn't stay there just for a week after that. He stayed there over a month, and only left after having been given permission to leave by the prosecutor. It's all in this court document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case http://www.scribd.com/doc/80912442/Agreed-Facts-Assange-Case
12y ago