Julian Assange: the balcony defence (Guardian editorial)

[JDPriestly]

68. Honestly! How much clearer can I make it.

The only ways you could get a conviction on these charges, whether in Sweden or here is if you have some physical evidence or a witness to the rape other than Assange and the young ladies or you have a corrupt or prejudice judge. There is a claim, but no evidence of rape, and it is highly unlikely that any evidence other than he said she said can be produced.

What is more, Assange's side claims there is a text message that rather negates the claim of rape as well as other evidence.

The fact that bringing these claims would be futile and a waste of time for the Swedish court or in the alternative result in an extremely controversial or corrupt verdict, leads me to believe that Assange is correct in claiming that for some odd reason, the charges are being brought in Sweden for some reason other than to convict Assange on these charges.

Perhaps the Swedish prosecutors want to interrogate Assange in the absence of an English-speaking lawyer and about topics having nothing to do with the rape allegations. It's possible. I don't know how Swedish law would work on this, but it may be that is the problem. I could be very wrong about the absence of an English-speaking lawyer and the scope of a potential Swedish interrogation.

But this may be why Assange does not want to fall in this trap.