Assange: Refugee or Fugitive?

[Something completely different]

An untested assumption.

good, then we agree on that point.

We still operate Guantanamo Bay. One prisoner who won his freedom a few years back died recently in detention.

Care to argue for the US being a fair and just warden?

Not the point. Point being: Only because there was waterbording - this doesn`t mean that every prison inmate is at risk of being waterborded.

Only because the european hight court of justice let down it`s principles in the wake of 9\11 this doesn`t mean that it will repeatedly and always do so.

US a just warden? I do not know much about prison conditions in the US.

What I do know for sure - is that every person of whom a nation demands extradition - who could face the death penalty or torture, is not extradited.

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That is irrelevant.

Assange is not charged. We covered this a month back with Tino.

The laws are very clear -- extradition only applies in cases of either being charged or convicted.

An EAW can only be issued for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution (not merely an investigation), or enforcing a custodial sentence.[1] It can only be issued for offences carrying a maximum penalty of 12 months or more. Where sentence has already been passed an EAW can only be issued if the prison term to be enforced is at least four months long.

REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_arrest_warrant

However, Swedish authorities claim:

Assange has not yet been formally charged with any offence.[65] The prosecutor said that, in accordance with the Swedish legal system, formal charges will be laid only after extradition and a second round of questioning. Observers note however that Assange has not yet been interviewed about several of the allegations,[66] including the most serious, and that Swedish law allows interviews to be conducted abroad under Mutual Legal Assistance provisions.[67]

This directly contradicts the purpose of a EAW, which explicitly states for criminal prosecution.

Assange is not formally charged and thus not eligible for criminal prosecution.

Furthermore, "Swedish law allows interviews to be conducted abroad under Mutual Legal Assistance provisions", however:

Since 19 June 2012, Assange lives in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he had asked for and was granted political asylum.[61] Ecuador offered to allow Swedish prosecutors to question Assange at the Embassy in London, but this was turned down by the Swedish prosecutors.[62] Assange has claimed he would go to Sweden if provided with a diplomatic guarantee that he would not be turned over to the United States[63] but the Swedish foreign ministry stated that Sweden's legislation does not allow any judicial decision like extradition to be predetermined.[64]

So, all in all, we have:
1) A state (Sweden) that does not formally charge suspects until additional questioning
2) Formally charged suspects are eligible for EAW
3) A state (Sweden) that allows for additional questioning via Mutual Legal Assistance provisions to allow for formal charging
4) A state (Sweden) that will not take advantage of point 3 while demanding points 1 and 2.

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Ok.
The European high court forbids the extradition to countries which threaten the extradited person with the death penalty.
So why can Sweden not give a guarantee?
Because Sweden is a independent country with it`s own independent justice system - which is only surveiled by the european high court.
Assange can only get a guarantee by the European high court of justice that it will set up sanctions against Sweden in the case of his extradition.

So Sweden cannot give a legal guarantee.

And most importent of all, why should it? A nation and it`s juristiction shouldn`t be the playball of any individual. Which is why I also understand why Sweden turned down the offer by Ecuador to hold the questioning within the embessy.

And where are the laws clear? Can you point that out to me?

There is no such thing as a standard for extradition in international law, if one can be extradited or not depends on individual treaties between the nations.