Julian Assange's accusers sent texts discussing revenge, court hears

Björn Hurtig, the WikiLeaks founder's lawyer in Sweden, says the women's messages contradict their claims.

Julian Assange's Swedish lawyer was shown scores of text messages sent by the two women who accuse him of rape and sexual assault, in which they speak of "revenge" and extracting money from him, an extradition hearing was told.

Björn Hurtig, who represents the WikiLeaks founder in Sweden, told Belmarsh magistrates court that he had been shown "about 100" messages sent between the women and their friends while supervised by a Swedish police officer, but had not been permitted to make notes or share the contents with his client.

"I consider this to be contrary to the rules of a fair trial," he said. A number of the messages "go against what the claimants have said", he told the court.

Sweden is seeking the WikiLeaks founder's extradition in relation to allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual molestation. He denies the accusations.

One message referred to one of the women being "half asleep" while having sex with Assange, Hurtig said, as opposed to fully asleep. "That to my mind is the same as saying 'half awake'." One of the women alleges that Assange had sex with her while she was sleeping.

But the lawyer admitted that Swedish prosecutors had tried to interview his client before he left the country, contradicting earlier claims by Assange's legal team and his own witness statement.

Hurtig told the extradition hearing that he had been wrong to assert that the prosecutor Marianne Ny had made no active attempt to interview Assange between her appointment to the case, on 1 September last year, and 27 September, when Assange left the country with her permission.

Under cross-examination by Clare Montgomery QC for the Swedish government, Hurtig admitted the prosecutor's office had contacted him on 22 September requesting an interview. Montgomery asked him to take out his mobile and read two text messages received on that date. One, in Swedish, he translated as: "Hello, is it clear if it's going to be good to have interrogation on Tuesday, 1700h?"

Hurtig said he could not recall calling Assange after receiving the request, but was sure he would have done. "You should bear in mind that it was very difficult to get hold of him during this time," he said.

The omission was "embarrassing and shouldn't have happened", he said. "It's true that that gave an impression that was to Julian's advantage."

But he insisted it was accidental: "I am myself a member of the Swedish bar association and it's important that what I say is right. It's also important for Julian that my statement is reliable and correct."

The hearing did not conclude in the allotted two days and will resume on Friday. Judge Howard Riddle is not expected to deliver his judgment immediately.

He agreed to amend Assange's bail conditions until Friday, lifting the requirement that he attend a police station near his rural bail address each afternoon.

Earlier, the court heard from a retired prosecutor who said the conduct of the prosecutor had been "quite peculiar" in not seeking to interview Assange earlier. Sven-Erik Alhem said he would also have tried to have Assange interviewed in the UK before seeking his extradition. He added, however, that if he were Assange "I would have gone to Sweden immediately to give my version of events."

Outside court, Assange tried to put the spotlight on the Swedish prosecutor: "She has refused to come to these hearings. Our witnesses were brought from Sweden, my lawyer was brought from Sweden and expensively cross-examined.

"Where is the equality in this case? There is not an equality. Rather, we see an unlimited budget of Sweden and the UK being spent on this matter and my rather limited budget being spent in response."

His lawyer, Mark Stephens, said: "We have seen Hamlet without the princess. We have seen a prosecutor who has been ready to feed the media with information but has been unprepared to come here and subject herself to the cross-examination she knows she cannot withstand."

(Published by Guardian - February 8, 2011)