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Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:47 am
by Gob
Police will no longer be stationed outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has sought refuge since 2012.
Met Police officers had been there since Mr Assange sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation, which he denies.
The Met said it had cost £12.6m and was "no longer proportionate" - but it would still try to arrest him.
Wikileaks said the decision did not change Mr Assange's situation.
Scotland Yard said that "resources are finite" and there were "so many different criminal, and other, threats to the city".
"The Metropolitan Police Service has to balance the interests of justice in this case with the ongoing risks to the safety of Londoners and all those we protect, investigating crime and arresting offenders wanted for serious offences, in deciding what a proportionate response is," it said.
However the force also said it would be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him".
Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said he had spoken to Mr Assange about the Met decision, and he agreed it did not change his situation.
"They will still arrest Julian if he steps outside the embassy so there is no real change to the situation, other than the removal of uniformed police officers," he said.
The Australian sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden, because he feared he would then be sent to the US and put on trial for releasing secret US documents.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:05 am
by rubato
Think he'll make a run for it?
What if they removed the guards to try to get him to make a run for it?
If he does get out of the UK and clean away where could he go other than Russia or Ecuador?
yrs,
rubato
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:51 am
by Lord Jim
What if they removed the guards to try to get him to make a run for it?
One would certainly hope that to be the case...
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:42 am
by MajGenl.Meade
The Met said it had cost £12.6m and was "no longer proportionate"
I think £12.60 would have been about right - but one million times that amount? I wonder when they began to think the cost to the public was "no longer proportionate".
What it speaks to is the absolute porousness of UK borders that they no longer have any reasonable expectation of stopping the man at the (ha ha) ports any more.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 12:48 pm
by rubato
It wasn't £12M for Assange it was £12M to kiss up to the U.S. And we appreciate that kind of devotion to our wishes, we really do. From every corner of our hegemony no matter how small and dark.
He did us a great service. I hope he doesn't get punished for it. What has Wikileaks released recently?
yrs,
rubato
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:42 pm
by Lord Jim
The scumbag should never have been able to run and hide in the embassy in the first place...
The Brits had him in custody where he belonged in a proper jail but let him out so he could stay in a palatial estate while he appealed his extradition. They let him stay there even after he lost in the original hearing, despite the fact that as an unscrupulous coward, his word was worthless and he was a clear flight risk.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:59 pm
by Scooter
Admit it, though, you couldn't give a shit about the rape charges or his alleged victims, your only beef with him is over the charges that no one will ever bring because they could never be made to stick.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:41 pm
by Crackpot
Same could be said for OJ
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:21 pm
by Big RR
Admit it, though, you couldn't give a shit about the rape charges or his alleged victims, your only beef with him is over the charges that no one will ever bring because they could never be made to stick.
Who needs charges that can stick Scooter? We no longer have a rule of law in the US when it comes to political undesirables; just lock them up and not bring any charges. We've done that openly for more than a decade now. And of course, after years in custody under questioning/enhanced interrogation, he will eventually admit to whatever "they" want him to admit to.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:26 pm
by wesw
c'mon guys. I m the last one to defend dick cheney s and bush s "enhanced interrogation" (torture), but that doesn t make assange a good guy.
some people just trigger the slime radar.
Re: Assange free(ish)
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:28 pm
by Big RR
What does beng a "good guy" or not have to do with it? I'm looking at what he did (at least to the extent it's publicly reported), not whether I'd want to have a drink with him.