STOCKHOLM (Radsoft) — The internal affairs division of the Swedish police found that the entire dossier on the Assange case was leaked to the media. The Chancellor of Justice along with the 'IAD' are now going to pursue the matter in an attempt to find out who broke the law.
The Chancellor's office says the police were contacted 28 August by Aftonbladet editor in chief Jan Helin who told them he had access to the complete dossier of the Assange case - something Helin today denies.
'I've never spoken to the police in such a matter. This is totally erroneous. It's infuriating that the Chancellor's office releases such information', insists Helin.
Helin claims one of his reporters made a request for the dossier through the proper channels and the request was granted after the authorities checked to make sure they wouldn't be violating Sweden's secrecy laws.
'We received the documents through the normal channels. We made an application with the police and they decided the documents could be released', insists Helin.
Anna Skarhed of the Chancellor's office doesn't agree. She's ruled that the IA unit should immediately investigate.
'How does a police dossier end up on an editor's desk?' asks Skarhed. 'We need to find that out.'
Skarhed's office is not yet targeting anyone or any agency in particular. 'The suspicion is someone at the police or the prosecutor's office leaked the information', she says.
Most leaks in Sweden are a matter of relatively few details getting out. But in this case Aftonbladet were given access to a complete dossier.
'This points to something very unfortunate', says Skarhed. 'The reason we have secrecy laws is so we can investigate crimes in a secure fashion.'
The second leak occurred shortly after Assange's one and only interview with the police where he specifically demanded (and received) guarantees from the authorities that there would be no further leaks - and especially not to Expressen.
'The only victim here is me', Assange told the AFP in a telephone interview today. 'These accusations are baseless, and the process by which they've come out is disturbing.'
'This entire rape investigation has been conducted without my input. No one has asked me any questions regarding the rape case. The police refuse to say if there is a warrant out for me or not.'
'It's been two weeks now.'
'There is ... a clear set up by the people involved, the complainants and possibly the Expressen tabloid. There is at different stages in the case personal vendettas, there is ideology, there is carreerism ... from the head prosecutor (Marianne Ny) of the most disgusting kind.'
'And there's also circumstantial evidence that there is political involvement but not clear evidence.'
'The Swedish case has caused delays, significant delays in all of our projects. It's been an enormous disruption. We have upcoming releases relating to financial fraud, the banking industry, and war crimes.'
'An allegation has been reported all around the world', Assange says of the continuing Swedish legal circus. 'It's at present on six million websites. In fact one in twenty websites mentioning the word rape also mentioned my name.'
'Resuming a case yet again and not even being called for questioning is rather remarkable. Particularly when you consider the degree of suspicion [Assange] has hanging over him.'
'Normally this type of suspicion leads to incarceration. But there's something strange about this entire case and we're going to see if I can do anything about it.'
'I usually let the prosecutors work a bit on their own. But there's something here that doesn't feel right. That's something I believe everyone feels who reads about this and has a basic grasp of law.'
'I want them to dismiss the entire case as soon as possible and leave Julian Assange alone.'
See Also
DN.se: Assangeförhör på vift utreds
SvD: JK utreder Assangeförhör på vift
Expressen: Assange: Jag är enda offret
Expressen: Björn Hurtig: Någonting är fel i det här
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The Chancellor's office says the police were contacted 28 August by Aftonbladet editor in chief Jan Helin who told them he had access to the complete dossier of the Assange case - something Helin today denies.
'I've never spoken to the police in such a matter. This is totally erroneous. It's infuriating that the Chancellor's office releases such information', insists Helin.
Helin claims one of his reporters made a request for the dossier through the proper channels and the request was granted after the authorities checked to make sure they wouldn't be violating Sweden's secrecy laws.
'We received the documents through the normal channels. We made an application with the police and they decided the documents could be released', insists Helin.
Anna Skarhed of the Chancellor's office doesn't agree. She's ruled that the IA unit should immediately investigate.
'How does a police dossier end up on an editor's desk?' asks Skarhed. 'We need to find that out.'
Skarhed's office is not yet targeting anyone or any agency in particular. 'The suspicion is someone at the police or the prosecutor's office leaked the information', she says.
Most leaks in Sweden are a matter of relatively few details getting out. But in this case Aftonbladet were given access to a complete dossier.
'This points to something very unfortunate', says Skarhed. 'The reason we have secrecy laws is so we can investigate crimes in a secure fashion.'
Three Strikes
The Aftonbladet leak becomes the third leak in the Assange case. Maria Kjellstrand of the prosecutor's office was responsible for the first when she - without legal backing - verified all details in the case with the tabloid Expressen.The second leak occurred shortly after Assange's one and only interview with the police where he specifically demanded (and received) guarantees from the authorities that there would be no further leaks - and especially not to Expressen.
'The only victim here is me', Assange told the AFP in a telephone interview today. 'These accusations are baseless, and the process by which they've come out is disturbing.'
'This entire rape investigation has been conducted without my input. No one has asked me any questions regarding the rape case. The police refuse to say if there is a warrant out for me or not.'
'It's been two weeks now.'
'There is ... a clear set up by the people involved, the complainants and possibly the Expressen tabloid. There is at different stages in the case personal vendettas, there is ideology, there is carreerism ... from the head prosecutor (Marianne Ny) of the most disgusting kind.'
'And there's also circumstantial evidence that there is political involvement but not clear evidence.'
US Putting Pressure on Sweden
But Assange doesn't stop there - he says his website now has 'two reliable intelligence sources that state that Swedish intelligence was approached last month by the United States and told that Sweden must not be a safe haven for WikiLeaks'.'The Swedish case has caused delays, significant delays in all of our projects. It's been an enormous disruption. We have upcoming releases relating to financial fraud, the banking industry, and war crimes.'
'An allegation has been reported all around the world', Assange says of the continuing Swedish legal circus. 'It's at present on six million websites. In fact one in twenty websites mentioning the word rape also mentioned my name.'
Something Wrong
Assange is to meet on Thursday with his new lawyer Björn Hurtig who's expressed concern about the legal circus. 'There's something wrong about this', he says.'Resuming a case yet again and not even being called for questioning is rather remarkable. Particularly when you consider the degree of suspicion [Assange] has hanging over him.'
'Normally this type of suspicion leads to incarceration. But there's something strange about this entire case and we're going to see if I can do anything about it.'
'I usually let the prosecutors work a bit on their own. But there's something here that doesn't feel right. That's something I believe everyone feels who reads about this and has a basic grasp of law.'
'I want them to dismiss the entire case as soon as possible and leave Julian Assange alone.'
See Also
DN.se: Assangeförhör på vift utreds
SvD: JK utreder Assangeförhör på vift
Expressen: Assange: Jag är enda offret
Expressen: Björn Hurtig: Någonting är fel i det här
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