RETIRED PROSECUTOR Sven-Erik Alhem left his home in Sweden before dawn yesterday to travel to Belmarsh prison in east London to give evidence on behalf of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. By midday he was feeling the strain.
The early start, perhaps, did little for his temper, but even the coolest temperament would hardly have survived testy exchanges with barrister Clare Montgomery, who is representing the Crown Prosecution Service and the Swedish authorities.
During questioning earlier in the day from Assange’s barrister, Geoffrey Robertson, Mr Alhem had been clear: the Swedish prosecutors had behaved badly by telling journalists that the Australian was facing rape allegations and that mistakes had been made in the investigation.
Once Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny had decided on September 1st to prepare a prosecution against Assange she should have given him the opportunity to give his account of his sexual relations with two women in August as quickly as possible, he said.
The issue that perplexed the former prosecutor most of all was that Assange had been left free by the prosecutor to leave Sweden.
“Why wasn’t Julian Assange confined to custody while he was in Sweden? I have never heard of anyone coming from Australia [facing investigation] who has not been detained,” he said.
“If you were a public prosecutor you would have issued a European Arrest Warrant, wouldn’t you?” said Ms Montgomery. Replying, the elderly prosecutor said bluntly: “I would have Assange detained from the beginning.”
Given that Assange had been allowed to fly to London, Mr Alhem argued that Ms Ny had over-reacted by issuing a European Arrest Warrant for him, rather than seeking the co-operation of the British authorities to ensure that he was properly interviewed in London under caution.
Mr Robertson is arguing any extradition should be blocked because his client would be “tried in secret” – most Swedish rape cases are dealt with out of the public gaze – and that Ms Ny and colleagues have made numerous and unacceptable errors.
The alleged danger that Assange would be faced with subsequent extradition on to the United States and incarceration in Guantánamo – which formed a part of Assange’s public relations offensive before the case – has not been emphasised since.
Throughout out the exchanges, Ms Montgomery became irritated by Mr Alhem’s habit of providing long, wordy answers through an interpreter. Mr Alhem, by turn, bristled at Ms Montgomery’s court etiquette, insisting he would speak as he wished.
Mr Alhem, even though he had been called by Assange’s team, agreed frequently with Ms Montgomery. For example, he dismissed the notion that Assange could be sent to the US.
The key issue for the two legal teams is whether the Swedish authorities were negligent about trying to interview Assange after Ms Ny reopened the case after overruling a junior colleague.
During a day when text message records were trawled, the two sides frequently disagreed, with Ms Montgomery telling Mr Robertson at one point to stop interfering as she tried to question Mr Alhem, and telling Assange’s solicitor Mark Stephens to sit down.
Ms Montgomery said the records of the exchanges between Ms Ny and Assange’s Stockholm solicitor Bjorn Hurtig showed clearly that the prosecutor had made it clear she wished to interview Assange before he left Stockholm on September.
Ms Montgomery said Ms Ny had made it clear that an interview was “absolutely essential”, and that a European Arrest Warrant would be issued for Assange if the Australian did not make himself available for questioning.
A London interview, she told Mr Hurtig would not have been acceptable, since a DNA sample would have needed to be taken. Though all accept that Assange had sex with the women, the DNA sample would prove, she said, whether he wore a condom.
Mr Hurtig was put under pressure by Ms Montgomery, who questioned his affidavit, doubted the accuracy of both his telephone records and those of his contacts with Ms Ny. “This is a big case for you, isn’t it,” she said, pointedly.
Ms Montgomery argues that Mr Hurtig led the prosecution service “a merry dance”, frequently telling Ms Ny that Assange was intent on coming back to Sweden to attend an interview with police.