[vacri]

I used to support Assange, but that fell away when finally Sweden agreed to interview him at the embassy as per his request... and he demanded that the interview questions be submitted as a document... and in Spanish. A Swedish prosecutor interrogating an anglo-Australian man residing in England in Spanish? With preprepared questions only? That's clearly obstructing the course of justice beyond the concern for his extradition.

[belorn]

All the reporters that wrote news article about the issue said that the demands was from the Ecuadorian Embassy, not from Assange. A Swedish prosecutor interrogating on Ecuadorian land has to follow what ever requirement that the diplomats want and those requirements depend on relations and politics. Recently there was a story on Swedish nation TV about a case where the other nation dragged their feet by loosing documents, by demanding them to be first faxed then signed then signed with the right colored inc, then mailed by post, then signed again, and a half year later had past and nothing had happened until an "agreement" was reached on a total different political subject and everything suddenly started to move.

In the Assange case I recall even the prosecutor saying that the kind of things was common when doing police work over borders, but that they hoped that things would be done on time. From what I remembered, it was also mostly on time.

[vacri]

Embassies are not the land of the foreign country. Embassies are considered sacrosanct from uninvited local LEOs, because if you violate their embassy, you've created a precedent where anyone can violate yours.

[belorn]

While true, the technicality of the case means that Swedish prosecutors want to interview a Australia person on UK land inside a Ecuadorian embassy.

But since Embassies are considered sacrosanct, it is the Ecuadorians that exercised their right to dictate the rules of the interview rather than the three other involved nations.

[mirimir]

He's been stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy since June 2012. And he's probably rather annoyed about the whole mess by now.

Here's a seemingly comprehensive history: http://observer.com/2016/02/exclusive-new-docs-throw-doubt-o...

[mirimir]

OK, maybe rather annoyed, but at least not lonely:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4304200/Pamela-Ander...

[erikbye]

If you knew you were innocent, wouldn't you fight a bit dirty against a government who seemingly wants to try you for rape? And it's not like he does not have cause for concern to believe that there might be more behind these rape charges than what's out in the open.

[Lanthanide]

There's fighting dirty, then there's obstructing your own cause. He demanded that very accommodation, why make it more difficult than it needs to be- ESPECIALLY if he knows he's innocent?

He absolutely has cause for concern, I agree, but what he has to gain in this specific case strikes me as a lot more than he can inflict on his opposition, even if it came down to just the PR benefits.