"A murderous system"

The Swedish former chief editor and media major Arne Ruth is "appalled at how the Swedish authorities have treated the site Wikileaks' founder Assange for almost ten years now ”. Ruth has long management practice from Swedish major newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter. Based on one interview with the UN Nils Melzer in the Swiss magazine Republic (January 31) Ruth became interested in how the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture commented on the case:

"Melzer is facing strong charges Swedens and demands government response – as his UN mandate is designed. He has ruled that the lawsuit against Assange is based on deliberate, misleading allegations of rape. "

Conservative Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung also followed Sweden / Melzer with a smashing characteristic on February 4: "Sweden's investigation into the Julian Assange case gives no reason for pride for this Nordic country."

On Monday, June 1, Ruth delivered a call to Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde – Currently signed by over 3000 people, including many Swedes. They all demand answers to the UN and Melzer's serious charges.

"Relying on conscious, deceptive allegations of rape."

Ruth also refers to Norwegian Klassekampens article on the Assange case on February 20 this year, mainly based on the Republic's conversation with Melzer on January 31: "But the class struggle is too cautious when they say the authorities' case is" full of serious errors ". According to Melzer, the police have criminally changed one of the two women's testimony. "

You might have Shakespeare's Hamlet in mind that something is rotten in the country (Denmark, on the other side of the Sound), where UN reporter Melzer describes "growing a murderous system before our eyes".

When Melzer and both a psychiatrist and forensic doctor visited Assange a year ago in belmarshprison, they independently concluded that he had symptoms one would expect to find in someone who has become psychic torturepea for a long time. Melzer compared Assange to victims of mental torture – he has seen many of them among political prisoners in the Middle East and the Balkans.

To Ruth and others' campaign setjulianfree.org Melzer says he appreciates initiatives that work for “states to live up to their international legal obligations. The public must be made aware of the dangers threatening that governments refuse to cooperate with UN mechanisms and respect the principles of transparency, justice and the law's inviolability. "

The UN accuses Sweden

Arne Ruth's concern is that Sweden must respond when the UN official special reporter Melzer presents evidence that the country has fabricated rape charges against Julian Assange. Melzer documents this with emails between British intelligence and Swedish police as a conspiracy against Assange.

According to Melzer (in the Republic), "Sweden has spent almost ten years deliberately characterizing Julian Assange as a sex offender [...]. No evidence has been provided that anything criminal has taken place ”. Meltzer wants 50 points. Among them: "How was it possible that the press was informed of the charges against Assange despite this being banned? How was it possible to present a case to the public when Assange had not even been interviewed? How was it possible to determine that one had been completed? voldtekt when the victims in question themselves contested it at this time? For more than ten years, the Swedes have presented Assange as a sex offender to suddenly put the matter to death. What was the reason for that? " In Melzer's second letter, the Swedish Foreign Minister replied that they "had nothing to add". Melzer then asks the Republic how to interpret this by email between British intelligence and Swedish police?

"Yes, how to interpret it», the Republic repeats, and Melzer replies briefly: "It's an admission of guilt."

The Swedish authorities are therefore in no hurry to investigate what has gone wrong. No, they pushed ahead Elinor Hammarskjöld in the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (utilized by UN's Dag Hammarskjöld's niece) with the letter signed by her on July 12, 2019 – where the ministry has severely rejected the charges as baseless.

"It's an admission of guilt."

The government's argument is that it "is constitutionally barred from commenting or influencing independent decisions made by Swedish prosecutors". But the UN rapporteur's dialogue must necessarily go through the government, Melzer points out. It is the channel he is committed to using. The Swedish Government's responsibility is to contact the parties concerned to clarify what has been going on and then report back. Melzer points out that the Swedish authorities may not have understood what international conventions lay down guidelines. As Melzer replies in the September 12, 2019 apologies with new documents and reinforces the charges, things are even worse.

The Swedish government simply chose to ignore him.

Swedish media is silent

In Norway, the Assange case is covered extensively in several media. For example, covered Klassekampen Sweden's response duly. But what do Swedish media – the national watchdog of democracy and the rule of law? Swedish police and prosecutors are charged with fraud, sabotage of Assanges rule of law and legal proceedings against all laws and regulations, national or international. Where is Swedish Media when does the government refuse to answer the charges? They are mostly silent.

In England, the BBC has followed Sweden's example of not showing an interview they did with Nils Melzer, but in Germany the newspapers engage with several pages of reports and eager debaters. And over 100 have so far supported author Gunter Wallraff, which requires Assange released. Larger newspapers such as Die Zeit and Süddeutche Zeitung have reproduced in their entirety Melzer's letter to the Swedish authorities. And they have discussed Assange's fate in the German Bundestag. In Switzerland, Assange is debated in parliament.

The Swedish government refuses UN authority

Arne Ruth has not managed to remain silent, and was also inspired by her friend Wallraff to formulate the appeal Setjulianfree.org. The former Swedish chief editor cannot at all live with his government failing to recognize the UN's authority by remaining silent in an attempt to smooth over its own actions. In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Ann Linde, which Ruth delivered on behalf of the campaign on June 1, the message is clear: "The logic your office sets for today will render all Swedish international cooperation powerless and irrelevant. And especially everything that has to do with the UN and the UN sub-organizations. "

Call for Assange

Called "Set Julian Free!" addresses Sweden's role and responsibilities. It is pointed out here that UN rapporteur Melzer states that the international torture convention will hold Sweden responsible for what happens to Assange both in the UK – where Assange is very ill in the coronal Belmarsh prison – and in the event of a feared extradition to the United States.

Assange has already completed the sentence he received after breaking the bail order by hiding in Ecuador's embassy. So why is he still incarcerated, Ruth asks, adding that Sweden "owes Assange an apology, an uprising and a great compensation".

Among famous Norwegian people who support Ruth's initiative setjulianfree.org, is corruption hunter and politician Eva Joly, former editor Harald Stanghelle, NUPI's and PRIO's former director Sverre Lodgaard, leader of Norwegian PEN Kjersti Løken Stavrum, sociologist and peace researcher Johan Galtung and cultural personalities such as William Nygaard and Erik Hillestad. They are in the company of international names such as Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, John Pilger and Denis Halliday.

Ruth was surprised that Swedish PEN, The Swedish Writers' Federation, Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet were among those who would not support when he made contact. The magazine Folket i Bild / Kulturfront, however, followed up its proud warning tradition and supported the call. So did the TV channel Öppna Kanalen in Stockholm. Ruth is also optimistic that well-known Swedish names such as Sven Britton, Jan Myrdal, Kaisa Ekis Ekman, Sven Hirdman, Carl Tham, Kjerstin Käll, Mikael Wiehe and Sven Eric Liedman support the call.

Ruth concludes: "It's not just about the fate of a sick and vulnerable Julian Assange in a health-threatening prison. It's about Sweden's soul – like democracy and as a legal community. ”

On www.netjulianfree.org there is all the source documentation mentioned in this article. It is worth noting that the article author has collaborated with Ruth on the campaign, which also MODERN TIMES has supported. Both Ruth and Jones sit on MODERN TIMES's editorial board.

Arne Ruth came to Sweden from Germany with the White buses in 1945, with his Swedish mother and siblings. The father was a German soldier who dropped them off at the Bernadotte buses before disappearing into the closing darkness of the war. Ruth has chaired Swedish PEN and the Swedish Rushdie Committee. He has been editor for 22 years in the largest Swedish newspapers. He fought corruption in the Skandia giant and won. He has demanded asylum cases resumed and won. Ruth took over as editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter and left when the Bonnier owners intervened editorially.