Sex, Leaks, and Swedish Law
Mårten Schultz is Professor of Law, Stockholm University
... Before Assange began to use WikiLeaks to divert attention from his personal legal problems, Swedish public opinion toward the whistleblowing Web site was favorable. Indeed, it could be said that WikiLeaks was revered in Sweden’s media ...
Assange and his supporters claim that the Swedish case is merely an opening for the US to force him to stand trial for his work with WikiLeaks. But, while no one can definitively say that he would not ultimately have to stand trial in the US, no formal extradition request has been issued. And it is impossible to know whether Sweden would heed such a request. (Sweden would never extradite someone who faces the death penalty, for example.)
Moreover, the EAW’s structure does not allow for Sweden to extradite Assange to the US without the UK’s approval. Indeed, such a decision would be in the hands of the British authorities – just as Assange’s fate has been since he fled to London in 2010 ...
Despite its legal system’s flaws, Sweden remains, in Hague’s words, “a country with the highest standards of law… where rights are guaranteed.” Perhaps more tellingly, the World Justice Organization’s Rule of Law Index places Sweden’s legal system among the world’s most robust, with the lowest levels of corruption and the most rigorous protection of fundamental rights. Ecuador does not even make it onto the list.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/online-commentary/sex--leaks--and-swedish-law-by-marten-schultz
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