Assange and Pussy Riot

There are some odd similarities in the controversies surrounding the Wikileaks founder and the now jailed Russian pop group. Both are protesters, seeing themselves as justified in breaking the law in order to bring to world attention the issues which drive them. Both have broken controversial laws under the banner of free speech. One is trying to evade justice, one has faced it and its members are now serving  what is, to their sympathisers, a harsh sentence.

Two points are worth making, whatever the headline issues which grip the world. If Pussy Riot had sung their anti-Putin song in a public place which was not a Holy sanctuary in a Russian church, whatever their supporters say, they would still be free. If Julian Assange had not hit the town in Sweden and put himself in a position where he could be credibly accused by not one, but two women, of sexual assault, he would be free too.

This is why the stories surrounding both have gained traction. It is also why sympathy for them is considerable but by no means universal. The British Government has received no extradition request for Mr. Assange from the US over his involvement with Wikileaks disclosures, but it has received one from Sweden over alleged sex crimes, which it is obliged by international law to enforce, following the failure at appeal by the accused at all levels of the British judicial system. The Swedish constitution prohibits extradition of a suspect to a country which enforces the death penalty for the crime of which they are accused, so Mr. Assange’s fears of re-extradition to the US from Sweden do not appear to make sense.

Whist the Pussy Riot ensemble serve their sentences which will conclude their clash with the Russian authorities, it is difficult to see how the Assange drama, now a cause celebre, is going to resolve, particularly since so many people appear to be talking at cross purposes, perhaps deliberately. Meanwhile he is likely to remain an effective prisoner in the Ecuadorian embassy for months or even years. There surely must be a better way.

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