Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Rape is More than Rape in Sweden

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is locked up in English jail, in the process to be deported to Sweden for charges of rape. Rape is a terrible word, but in Swedish law it's not only what we normally mean by it. A number of sex offenses, major and minor, are called rape – and treated equally severely by the Swedish legal system. Moral panic replaces justice.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Rape Is More than Rape in Sweden


kl. 11:03 AM
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 8, 2010 at 1:11 PM

    The same is only too true for very many others who are falsely accused and have no recourse to vindication or compensation. Unfortunately only the high profile cases get any attention. Very many men are accused of molesting their children by estranged mothers. Accusations that are often untrue and malicious. Even when shown to be so there is never any question of prosecuting the accusers either for slander of perjury. Nor for the damage that their actions do to their children.
    A final note concerns the case of the tenor Tito Beltrane who was imprisoned for rape for two years on the basis of what can only be described as hearsay. Several years after the event ans in the absence of any technical evidence. Trial by celebrity would be a more appropriate term than other.

    The messages are clear..don't get into trouble in Sweden unless you commit a really horrendous crime (for which sentences are almost ludicrously lenient) and don't expect justice from a politically driven and almost completely incompetent judiciary.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stefan StenuddDecember 8, 2010 at 1:42 PM

    Sadly, I can but agree. The famous cases expose what's happening all the time behind the scenes. Justice should be blind, but it is often peeking through the blindfold.

    ReplyDelete
  3. anna kjosDecember 9, 2010 at 12:03 AM

    Just as a precaution...Remember to get a written consent form signed if you want to have sex in sweden. The good thing though is that if you worry about having contracted an STD (while having sex in sweden) they will call interpol and have you arrested and tested!
    You are so right moral panic..it so ridiculous that there has to be something else going on. These two women Ms A and Ms W have alot to answer for, as they are being used to criminalise Assange to justify extradition to the US.

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  4. Stefan StenuddDecember 9, 2010 at 12:09 PM

    By the way, here is a recent text by Julian Assange - not about the rape charges, but about the Wikileaks revelations and the political reactions to them:
    Assange in The Australian

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stefan StenuddJuly 17, 2011 at 1:24 AM

    I deleted an anonymous comment naming someone else charged with rape, but as far as I understood not convicted.

    ReplyDelete

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