2011-07-13 Weird accusation or proof of lies? More about the Assange case

Authored by Goran Rudling

In the Detention Memorandum (Häktningspromemorian) there is an attachment, “Bilaga – Skäligen misstänkt”, that lists all the sex crimes that Julian Assange is suspected of. It is a long list. It is one rape, one sexual coercion and five sexual molestations. Sofia Wilén is the the alleged victim of rape. According to the police investigation Anna Ardin is supposed to be the victim of six sex crimes.

In this article, that will be short, I will look closer at the alleged sexual molestation, the one that is supposed to have occured on Wednesday August 18. But before that, just a comment. The interview with Anna Ardin was on August 21. The interview was conducted over the phone and lasted for 49 minutes. During this time the police took Anna’s story and they also read back to her the contents of the interview. The interview is what is called “konceptförhör”. It is just a summary of what the interviewing officer thinks is important and is the officer’s interpretation of what is said. When I read the interview I have a very hard time finding five descriptions of sexual molestations. One must be the alleged destruction of a condom. And the other one Julian’s rubbing of his naked body against Anna. But I can’t find the other three. If anyone that reads this can help me to find three more sexual molestations I will be thankful.

According to Anna’s interview this is what happened on the Wednesday August 18. “At one point, on Wednesday 18 August, he had suddenly taken off all his clothes on his lower body and then rubbed against her body, with his erect penis against Anna.” If you read this out of context it sure sounds like Julian is some kind of freak that undresses his lower body and rubs himself onto unexpecting ladies that are in the vincinity. “Anna said that she felt this strange behavior and uncomfortable”. Just from this description, and it happened during the day, it sure sounds weird and it is seems reasonable that Anna felt it was uncomfortable.

But what did really take place? And why is Anna telling the police about it? Is this really important? When I worked on the extremely long article “Sex, lies, no videotape and more lies” it was of the opinion that this accusation was just thrown in there to make it more credible that Julian at least had done something that was criminal. Today I have come to a different conclusion.

First let’s look at what really happened on that particular Wednesday based on the contents of Anna’s police interview. It isn’t easy since Anna leaves out so much information that she obviously does not want the police to know about. But there is part of a sentence that explains the context. Anna “… had therefore moved down to a mattress and slept there instead of up in bed with Assange.” What we can understand is that Anna was in bed. And that this incident took place late at night because it says “… slept there instead of up in bed with Assange.” It is late at night, Anna is in bed. Julian removes his clothes, as you normally do before going to bed, and leaves some clothing on his upper body. Could it be a T-shirt? The he gets into bed where Anna is. He obviously has an erection. And he touches Anna with his lower body and erect penis. Rubbing according to Anna. Anna then gets out of bed and decides to sleep on a matress on the floor instead of sleeping next to Julian in the bed.

“To a question Anna answers that Assange had stayed in her flat but that they hardly slept together as Assange had been awake at night working on his computer. When he went to bed, at approximately at 7 o’clock in the morning, Anna, in principle got up.”

From Anna’s interview we can conclude that Wednesday was one of the rare nights the couple actually slept together. Julian in bed and Anna on a matress on the floor. According to Anna this was due to Julian’s peculiar behaviour. It would be of interest to size of the bed. Was it 120, 140, 160 or 180 cm wide?

What Anna is describing in her police interview, and what the police and prosecutors regard as sexual molestation, does not look like anything out of the ordinary when a man and a woman, who have been intimate, share a bed together over a period of time. You touch each other and sometimes you make passes without saying anything. To me it seems like Julian is trying to say to Anna that he would like some intimacy. Nothing peculiar. The only thing that is weird to me is Anna’s description of events and that the police did not try to investigate to find out what it was all about.

I must say I am surprised that Anna did not accuse Julian of indecent exposure as well. At some stage he must have undressed in such a way that Anna had seen his naked body and experienced discomfort in some way.

Why is it that Anna tells the police about this event? There is one reason. One reason I did not think about until I talked to Peter Kemp, the Australian lawyer that gave me motivation to continue to write about this case.

In Kajsa Borgnäs’ interview we can read “Anna had been sad and thoughtful, she wondered how she could explain for example at a trial that she had let him to stay on despite everything that had happened.” This is from Anna’s and Kajsa’s conversation at a party on August 20 after Anna had been to the police. It is before Anna is interviewed by the police. More from Kajsa’s interview. “Then it had also emerged that police had taken up a report from Anna and that the police had interpreted it as if Anna also was a victim of crime. It was then that Anna told her that Julian first did not want to use a condom and that they had wrestled about it and that Anna had curled up.”

From what Anna is telling Kajsa at the party we can understand that Anna does not agree with the police that she is a victim of rape. How come Anna didn’t make that clear when she was at the police station. At the party Anna realizes that she will be interviewed by the police because the police believes that she is a victim of rape. It is in this context the line “… she wondered how she could explain for example at a trial that she had let him to stay on despite everything that had happened” should be understood. Anna knows that she has to be able to explain why Julian stayed in her flat for so long, and why she decided to move out on Thursday evening.

In the interviews with Donald Boström and Petra Ornstein it is evident that Anna learned about Julian’s intimacy with Sofia Wilén on Thursday August 19. Why did Anna move out on that Thursday? Does it have to do with Anna’s finding out about Julian’s relationship with Sofia?

My conclusion is that Anna in her interview with the police on August 21 is making up the story of the alleged molestation on Wednesday in order to get a “justified reason” to move out of the flat on Thursday. It is a cover story. “The night after, Anna had stayed with a companion when she did not want to hang out or stay close to Assange because of his strange behavior.” When Anna offers an explanation to the reason she moved out she is avoiding questions from the police to the reason she moved out of the flat. And evidently it worked. The police did not ask any questions. It seemes like a strategy that worked. But is has consequences.

Anna wants us to believe that when she experienced Julian rubbing his naked body and penis against her it was so uncomfortable that she decided to move out the following day. If the rubbing is so uncomfortable, why didn’t she move out earlier when allegedly much worse events had taken place. And if Anna was sexually assaulted on Friday August 13 why is that she decided to tell people that Julian was welcome to stay, she arranged a crayfish party for him, she tweeted about how amazing it was to be next to him and the coolest smartest people and why did she decide to become his press secretary? It does not make any sense.

Anna’s remarkable story about the events on Wednesday August 18 is just additional compelling evidence that the Anna’s story of sexual assault is made up. It is proof that nothing had happened before Wednesday August 18 and that nothing happened on Wednesday August 18. It just proves that Anna’s story is a deliberate and calculated lie. And that the police and the prosecutors are sleeping.