YK:n mielivaltaista vapaudenriistoa tutkiva toimikunta: Julian Assangen vapaudenriisto mielivaltainen

YK:n toimikunta on tänään julkaistussa kannanotossaan katsonut, että Julian Assange on ollut mielivaltaisen vapaudenriiston kohteena Ruotsin ja Yhdistyneiden kunigaskuntien toimesta vuodesta 2010 lukien. Toimikunta kehottaa Ruotsia ja Yhdistyneitä kuningaskuntia varmistamaan, että Assangelle turvataan hänelle YK:n ihmisoikeuksien yleismaailmallisen julistuksen nojalla kuuluvat oikeudet ja korvaamaan hänelle vapaudenriiston aiheuttamia vahinkoja.

Yksi toimikunnan jäsenistä oli erimielinen ja katsoi, että vapaaehtoinen vangitsemismääräystä pakeneminen Ecuadorin suurlähetystöön ei muodosta sellaista “mielivaltaista vapaudenriistoa”, mitä ihmisoikeuksien julistuksessa tarkoitetaan, ja olisi jättänyt valituksen tutkimatta.

Toimikunnan lehdistötiedotteesta:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been
arbitrarily detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom since his arrest
in London on 7 December 2010, as a result of the legal action against
him by both Governments, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention said today.

In a public statement, the expert panel called on the Swedish and
British authorities to end Mr. Assange’s deprivation of liberty, respect
his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the
right to compensation (Check the statement:  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17012&LangID=E)

Mr. Assange, detained first in prison then under house arrest, took
refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 after losing his appeal to
the UK’s Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden, where a judicial
investigation was initiated against him in connection with allegations
of sexual misconduct. However, he was not formally charged.

“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the various
forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been
subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said Seong-Phil
Hong, who currently heads the expert panel.

“The Working Group
maintains that the arbitrary detention of Mr. Assange should be brought
to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be
respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to
compensation,” Mr. Hong added. 

In its official Opinion, the
Working Group considered that Mr. Assange had been subjected to
different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in
Wandsworth Prison in London, followed by house arrest and then
confinement at the Ecuadorean Embassy.

The experts also found that the detention was arbitrary because Mr.
Assange was held in isolation at Wandsworth Prison, and because a lack
of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office in its investigations
resulted in his lengthy loss of liberty.

The Working Group established that this detention violates Articles 9
and 10 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and Articles 7,
9(1), 9(3), 9(4), 10 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.

Check the Working Group’s Opinion on Julian Assange’s case (No. 54/2015), adopted in December: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/A.HRC.WGAD.2015.docx

Lisätietoa: Julian Assange arbitrarily detained by Sweden and the UK, UN expert panel finds