Julian Assange in Sweden

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, was in Sweden for almost seven weeks during August and September 2010. What happened to him during those seven weeks is a story familiar to many people in Sweden, because it is in the Swedish language. Here, for the first time, is the story for English-speaking readers, much of it from official Swedish police documents. The first section of the book reports items day by day. Assange was invited to Sweden to give a seminar. He gave his seminar on Saturday 14 August and that evening a crayfish party was held in his honour. On Wednesday 18 August, he applied for a work permit and residence permit in Sweden. With these permits he would also be able to apply for a publishing certificate which would give him and WikiLeaks strong legal protection in Sweden. On Friday 20 August two women walked into a police station. That evening, Julian Assange was sought for arrest on suspicion of rape and this was reported in the newspaper Expressen and subsequently world-wide. The next day the arrest order was cancelled and the suspicion of rape dropped. On Wednesday 1 September, the suspicion of rape against Assange was resurrected. On Monday 27 September Assange had waited for almost four weeks to be interrogated by the police but nothing had happened so he left Sweden. Other sections of the book provide information on key events, short biographies of the main characters, a review of the Swedish justice system, full translations of all the available police documents, and a final section reports the legal and business activities of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in Sweden during that period.