Toronto Star Message Board: Here Are Some Canadians Racist Comments About The Immigration System & The Refugee Daniel Garcia.
visa now required
Up until recently, Mexicans could get on a flight, land in Toronto, without any documentation, and request a visitor visa at the airport, or claim refugee status. As a result, Mexicans abused the refugee system, their numbers of applications were rampant. Now, there’s a visa for entry, finally. They have to be preapproved before they travel here now. Mexico is not the best country in the world, but that doesn’t designate every Mexican as a potential refugee.
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No one is illegal? Honestly?
There are billions across the world who could have equal if not more valid a reason then this fellow to claim refugee status in Canada. Should we allow it? Currently 8% of the Canadian population is unemployed. The middle class is all but dissappearing. Here’s a solution, why not actual Mexicans standing up for the rights of this individual? How can a country ever progress if its people keep abandoning it, instead of sticking around to try and make it a better place for all? Canada cannot house all of the world’s “victims”. These victims should stay home and work to publicly voice their plight for support from their fellow man in their own countries.
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How is it that he fears for his life because of his sexual orientation and yet his girlfriend fears that she’ll never see him again if he’s deported? No wonder his refugee claim was denied…
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@theleg – Mexico’s Reality
Why should Canadian Immigration start looking at the reality of Mexico. It’s not the only country that suffers from despair. If we keep accepting refugees than we will get a flood of people claiming outlandish reasons for running from their country. As moss67 states, Mexico is a huge country and I find it hard to believe that they could not just move to another city.
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If the refuge board says …
that there is no basis for a claim that is good enough for me – he can apply again to enter our country. Many people make up all kinds of situations to gain access to our country. I met one such Mexican who was turned down and he is still here – he works under the table, making at least $100/day and collects social assistance as well. Yes this is a student but again if the refugee board says no we have to draw the line somewhere – he can always reapply when he is back in his own country.
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@Lokie
“…get out and protest for the rights of real Canadians, our homeless, our mentall ill.” Many of us do just that…didn’t you see us, or where you home watching us on TV? Many of us also make donations to those causes. Do YOU?? I do! I live on pensions, but I have never forgotten what it’s like to be poor, much poorer, and donate to causes that help the downtrodden! You know, the people who are sneered at, wished to be somewhere else…for not being like you?
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Inhumane commentaries
I cannot believe there is people who do not show compassion about the fate of this young man. I believe many of the stern commentaries arise out of ignorance. Mexico is now a dangerous country, and if criminals want to find you, they can do it. And for you Lokie: I am really happy the young people protesting do not think like you. Of course, they will protest for the rights of Canadians. There are persons who really need to get enlightened.
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Rules Are Rules…
You need to come into this country the legal way.
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Would you smugly ethnocentric types
try educating yourselves about other countries! MEXICO IS NOT CANADA. IT IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO BE FEMALE AND IT IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO BE DIFFERENT (AS IN GAY). How many deaths will it take before a right-wing government and its wilfully ignorant supporters will realize that sending people back to Mexico because “they’ll be safe” without taking the ACTUAL conditions into account is verging on being accessory to murder! And since apparently none of you got it – the boy was acing his education and would undoubtedly be an asset to his adopted country – IF we allow him to!
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@HAMMERHEAD
You wrote: “PROVE IT….I THINK ALL THESES WILD STORIES SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION…” Hammerhead…how about YOU prove that you actually have compassion for anyone other than yourself!! Make yourself knowledgeable about other countries. Mexico is not the only country in the world that discriminate against, and kill, gay and lesbian people! Many are in hiding for many months or years, until they can safely come to Canada! If I had the money and space, I’d take them all in! I’ve friends, and have had co-morkers who are gay and lesbians… and believe me, they all look like human beings! And they all have compassion for other people, whether straight or gay! You might want to remember that, when one day YOU will need someone’s help/compassion!
If he is here illegally…..
send him back! We have far too many illegals here in Canada already. Too bad for him and the rest of the illegals, no matter where they’re from! Get rid of them! We have too many immigrants already and they are overburdening our welfare system!
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Ive worked with Mexican Refugees
I dont know this case so I cannot comment but after having worked with Mexican Refugees where 9 out of 10 all lied and claimed to be gay and were being threatened the story becomes unbelievable after hearing the same one over and over. People need to realized that most of the “refugees” from Mexico are from very poor areas are considered economic refugees but that wont win ur case. The bottom line is that THERE IS a thriving gay community in Mexico and he will be safe there, hence, he will most likely lose his case. I have several gay friends living in Mexico and it IS safe to do so in the right area.. Thats why he will lose
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Something’s wrong
Canada wants to deport people trying to make it better, but wants to “import” terrorists like Khadr! Does that make any sense???
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Have a nice trip back to Mexico
If yiou want to come back, try the immigration process.
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Their Stories Do Not Add-Up
Mexico City Allows Gay Marriage, the Mayor of Mexico City was recently elected the best Mayor on the Planet for 2010, for his efforts in reducing crime, police corruption, cutting pollution, public transit & gay marriage. Despite the Drug Wars in Mexico’s Northern States Mexico City is relatively unaffected. Deport them and let them apply for permanent residency status like every other person that is not a genuine refugee.
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Canada Refugee Haven
While I am sympathetic to refugees looking for a safe place in which to live, I am tired of stories of arriving here illegally or “jumping the cue” (as the Sri Lankan refugees who arrived by boat earlier this year). If you want to live in Canada, follow the proper procedures. Don’t come here illegally and then play the sympathy card when you get caught.
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Entry
Entry to Canada is either legal or illegal. Legitimate Immigrants and Refugees are always welcome. Those that choose to come in by breaking the rules have to understand that they could be sent back if their claim is not substantiated. Apparently the girl friend is in the same boat since she doesn’t want to be named due to her status. Too bad for them.
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c’mon
“violence followed them?”. Yeah right. Highly doubtful. If you live in a small town here with small town attitudes you move to the city or to an area that is more tolerant. We are talking about Mexico not Afghanistan. The idea that the only place on earth that they could flee was to Canada is a huge stretch. This sounds more like a case of wanting a better quality of life and the Canadian refugee system is internationally regarded as a joke. To couch the issue in Mexican homophobia is lame at best. Another massive waste of taxpayer dollars.
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There is more to this than meets the eye,,,
YES Mexico is a dangerous country, BUT, they do not hunt down and kill gays. There is a huge gay and lesbian population in Mexico that is not in danger. There’s more here than we are being told. Half truths will not help this family.
Toronto Star Article: Mexican Teenager & His Lesbian Sister Fears For Their Lives If They Are Deported To Mexico.
Teen fears revenge in Mexico
Supporters rally for 18-year-old Toronto student Daniel Garcia, who has been ordered deported to Mexico, outside Eaton Centre on Dec. 26, 2010.
Edward Wong
A Toronto high school student facing deportation back to Mexico says he fears the homophobic outlaws who shot his sister’s partner to death in front of him are now waiting to kill him too.
Daniel Garcia, a Grade 11 student at Parkdale Collegiate Institute, fled from Mexico to Toronto three years ago along with his sister Brenda, who is gay. But their refugee claim failed, and on Thursday evening Garcia, 18, was arrested and taken to a Canada Border Services Agency detention centre, where his sister was already being held.
His supporters say he deserves more time because of the danger he faces in Mexico and legal mishaps that befell his case.
Garcia was living with his sister in Mexico City when threats started to mount against them. On his 12th birthday, he says a group of teenagers hurled homophobic insults against him before attacking and assaulting him.
Two years later, he was sleeping over at a friend’s house with his sister and her partner after a party when somebody fired shots into the room where they were staying.
“I saw blood on my hands,” Garcia recalled in a telephone interview from the detention centre Sunday. His sister’s partner had been hit in the neck; she died en route to hospital, he says.
They moved to different areas of Mexico, but violence followed and they said their reports to police had no effect. The final straw was when a van chased the two in their car at high-speed; Brenda Garcia, 30, says shots were fired, but they managed to escape and went into hiding. A week later, they flew to Canada.
Garcia started at Parkdale Collegiate, where his sister says he thrived, despite arriving speaking no English. Hillel Heinstein, an English and ESL teacher at the school, describes him as a “fantastic student.”
“He takes his education very seriously,” Heinstein said. “He’s really attempting to seize the opportunity here in Canada putting the maximum effort into his classes.”
Heinstein added, “We fear for his safety if he goes back.”
The family’s refugee application was denied last December. According to the Garcias, the judge at their refugee hearing didn’t believe Brenda Garcia’s claim of persecution.
Immigration lawyer Max Berger says he has represented half-a-dozen clients with stories of fleeing Mexico because of persecution for sexual orientation. But he adds that only around 10 per cent of Mexico refugee claims are successful, and claims based on sexual orientation are particularly challenging.
“Often gay and lesbian claims will be refused on the basis that there is sufficient tolerance to live in Mexico City,” where Canadian officials have determined that there is a gay community, Berger says.
Brenda Garcia, who also spoke to the Star from the detention centre, says she has never had contact with any gay community in Mexico City. She said lesbians face much more difficult circumstances than gay men in her country.
Before the pair had a chance to file an appeal, their immigration lawyer suddenly died, the Garcias said. They said they were unable to find new representation because they didn’t have enough money and the case was so advanced.
Garcia, then 17, filled out an appeal known as a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment as best he could with help from the public library. He says he never received a response.
But when he was stopped Thursday by police in Parkdale who claimed shots had been fired in the area and was asked to show his student ID, the officers said there was an immigration warrant for him. Garcia discovered the appeal had been denied.
When Garcia spoke with relatives in Mexico City, they told him word had spread the pair were returning.
“Some people are saying they are going to kill us,” Garcia said. “This time they are not going to give us a choice. They are going to persecute us and wherever we go, we are dead.”
Garcia’s sister’s appeal was denied too, and she was taken to the immigration detention centre on Dec. 15. Her deportation flight leaves early Monday morning.
Garcia has not yet received a date for his deportation, but fears it could come at any time.
Former Parkdale-High Park MP Peggy Nash, who spoke with Garcia and attended a rally for him on Sunday, said his supporters are simply asking for time.
“He hasn’t really had a fair process here. They’re just trying to buy a little time to allow him to make a fair case for himself.”
Several dozen of Garcia’s classmates and other supporters attended the rally at the Eaton Centre, organized by the immigration rights group No One is Illegal, to try to draw attention to the case.
“He needs time to be represented. There needs to be a delay,” said Roger Langen, human rights committee liaison for the Toronto Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation.
NPR Interview: Author JC Davies Talks About Her New Book About Interracial Dating Which Will Be Published In Early 2011.
Link To JC Davies Interview About Interracial Dating On NPR Radio:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132081762
LA Times Article: Vaginal Steam Bath Can Reduce Stress For Women & Help With Fertility.
Vaginal steam bath finds a place among Southern California spa options
A Korean treatment for the vaginal area is said to aid health and fertility. What’s missing is evidence.
Pungent steam rises from a boiling pot of a mugwort tea blended with wormwood and a variety of other herbs. Above it sits a nude woman on an open-seated stool, partaking in a centuries-old Korean remedy that is gaining a toehold in the West.
Vaginal steam baths, called chai-yok, are said to reduce stress, fight infections, clear hemorrhoids, regulate menstrual cycles and aid infertility, among many other health benefits. In Korea, many women steam regularly after their monthly periods.
There is folk wisdom — and even some logic — to support the idea that the carefully targeted steam may provide some physiological benefits for women. But there are no studies to document its effectiveness, and few American doctors have even heard of it.
“It sounds like voodoo medicine that sometimes works,” said Dr. Vicken Sahakian, medical director of Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles.
Niki Han Schwarz believes it worked for her. After five steams, she found she had fewer body aches and more energy. She also became pregnant eight months ago at the age of 45 after attempting to conceive for three years.
Han Schwarz and her husband, orthopedic surgeon Charles Schwarz, are determined to introduce vaginal steam baths to Southern California women. Their Santa Monica spa, Tikkun Holistic Spa, offers a 30-minute V-Steam treatment for $50. (The identical treatment is available for men, to steam the perineal area.)
At Daengki Spa in Koreatown, a 45-minute V-Herbal Therapy treatment can be had for $20 a squat. The steam includes a mixture of 14 herbs imported from Korea by spa manager Jin Young. The spa’s website claims the treatment will “rid the body of toxins” and help women with menstrual cramps, bladder infections, kidney problems and fertility issues. “It is a traditional Korean health remedy,” according to the website.
Across the country, chai-yok treatments are not easy to find. They are available in a scattering of alternative holistic health centers. The flashy Juvenex Spa in Manhattan offers its 30-minute Gyno Spa Cure for $75. A complete setup for a do-it-yourself steam — open-seated stool, boiler and herbs — can be purchased online at http://www.rakuten.com for $330.
The two predominant herbs in the steam bath mixture are mugwort and wormwood. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) has been used in Eastern medicine for hundreds of years to balance female hormones. It contains natural antibiotics and antifungal agents, according to herbalists and alternative medicine journals. It is also said to stimulate the production of hormones to maintain uterine health, protect the uterus from ulcers and tumors, stimulate menstrual discharge and ease fatigue, headaches, abdominal discomfort and nausea, among other claims.
Wormwood (Artemisia herba), an antimicrobial “cooling herb,” is also popular in Eastern medicine. It has been used historically to induce uterine contractions and treat bladder infections, fevers, open sores, constipation, diarrhea, hepatitis, jaundice, eczema and parasitic infections. The leaves and young shoots are antibacterial and antiviral, and they also relax the blood vessels and promote the discharge of bile, according to historical tradition.
Neither herb has been subjected to the rigorous analysis used to vet Western medicines. But Han Schwarz says she and her husband became persuaded by the herbs’ healing abilities after conducting a fact-finding mission in South Korea. They discovered that people there used the herbs to aid digestive disorders and immune system strength, for reduction of headaches and pain from inflammatory conditions, to improve energy, to regulate the menstrual cycle and hormones, and to detoxify the uterus.
One of their clients, Sherman Oaks-based writer Lanee Neil, said she prefers the V-Steam to the harshness of a douche and thinks of it as a “facial” for her private area.
“It’s a simple, relaxing treatment,” says Neil, who hopes it will help her become pregnant. “You can imagine people doing this in the forest somewhere.”
Tae-Cheong Choo, who teaches at Samra University of Oriental Medicine in Los Angeles, strongly endorses chai-yok treatment, especially for gynecological problems and infertility. He says he used to administer it to his patients in Korea, but he doesn’t have the time to prepare the formula here.
“Many infertility problems are related to coldness and stagnation,” Choo says. “The chai-yok treatment is effective for coldness or poor circulation in the lower part of the body because it increases the blood circulation, and blood supplies nutrition, so the more blood supply, the faster the healing process.”
Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Women’s Care of Beverly Hills Medical Group, says the idea of steaming the pelvic area is “not insane.” The heat boosts circulation, and the increased blood flow brings more oxygen and “immune factors” to the region, she says.
However, she notes, it’s impossible to say whether the herbal steam does any good.
“Most of these kinds of treatments are not put through intensive clinical trials, so it becomes challenging to evaluate the actual impact they have,” she says. In addition, traditional practices like chai-yok “have been cut off from the larger system they grew out of, including factors of cultural and family life, diet, environment, etc. There’s a bigger picture that we’re really missing.”
Guardian UK Article: Here Are The Allegations Of Rape Against Wikileaks Leader Julian Assange.
10 days in Sweden: the full allegations against Julian Assange
Unseen police documents provide the first complete account of the allegations against the WikiLeaks founder
- Nick Davies
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 December 2010 21.30 GMT
- Article history
Julian Assange at Ellingham Hall. Photograph: Paul Hackett/ReutersDocuments seen by the Guardian reveal for the first time the full details of the allegations of rape and sexual assault that have led to extradition hearings against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
The case against Assange, which has been the subject of intense speculation and dispute in mainstream media and on the internet, is laid out in police material held in Stockholm to which the Guardian received unauthorised access.
Assange, who was released on bail on Thursday, denies the Swedish allegations and has not formally been charged with any offence. The two Swedish women behind the charges have been accused by his supporters of making malicious complaints or being “honeytraps” in a wider conspiracy to discredit him.
Assange’s UK lawyer, Mark Stephens, attributed the allegations to “dark forces”, saying: “The honeytrap has been sprung … After what we’ve seen so far you can reasonably conclude this is part of a greater plan.” The journalist John Pilger dismissed the case as a “political stunt” and in an interview with ABC news, Assange said Swedish prosecutors were withholding evidence which suggested he had been “set up.”
However, unredacted statements held by prosecutors in Stockholm, along with interviews with some of the central characters, shed fresh light on the hotly disputed sequence of events that has become the centre of a global storm.
Stephens has repeatedly complained that Assange has not been allowed to see the full allegations against him, but it is understood his Swedish defence team have copies of all the documents seen by the Guardian. He maintains that other potentially exculpatory evidence has not been made available to his team and may not have been seen by the Guardian.
The allegations centre on a 10-day period after Assange flew into Stockholm on Wednesday 11 August. One of the women, named in court as Miss A, told police that she had arranged Assange’s trip to Sweden, and let him stay in her flat because she was due to be away. She returned early, on Friday 13 August, after which the pair went for a meal and then returned to her flat.
Her account to police, which Assange disputes, stated that he began stroking her leg as they drank tea, before he pulled off her clothes and snapped a necklace that she was wearing. According to her statement she “tried to put on some articles of clothing as it was going too quickly and uncomfortably but Assange ripped them off again”. Miss A told police that she didn’t want to go any further “but that it was too late to stop Assange as she had gone along with it so far”, and so she allowed him to undress her.
According to the statement, Miss A then realised he was trying to have unprotected sex with her. She told police that she had tried a number of times to reach for a condom but Assange had stopped her by holding her arms and pinning her legs. The statement records Miss A describing how Assange then released her arms and agreed to use a condom, but she told the police that at some stage Assange had “done something” with the condom that resulted in it becoming ripped, and ejaculated without withdrawing.
When he was later interviewed by police in Stockholm, Assange agreed that he had had sex with Miss A but said he did not tear the condom, and that he was not aware that it had been torn. He told police that he had continued to sleep in Miss A’s bed for the following week and she had never mentioned a torn condom.
On the following morning, Saturday 14 August, Assange spoke at a seminar organised by Miss A. A second woman, Miss W, had contacted Miss A to ask if she could attend. Both women joined Assange, the co-ordinator of the Swedish WikiLeaks group, whom we will call “Harold”, and a few others for lunch.
Assange left the lunch with Miss W. She told the police she and Assange had visited the place where she worked and had then gone to a cinema where they had moved to the back row. He had kissed her and put his hands inside her clothing, she said.
That evening, Miss A held a party at her flat. One of her friends, “Monica”, later told police that during the party Miss A had told her about the ripped condom and unprotected sex. Another friend told police that during the evening Miss A told her she had had “the worst sex ever” with Assange: “Not only had it been the world’s worst screw, it had also been violent.”
Assange’s supporters point out that, despite her complaints against him, Miss A held a party for him on that evening and continued to allow him to stay in her flat.
On Sunday 15 August, Monica told police, Miss A told her that she thought Assange had torn the condom on purpose. According to Monica, Miss A said Assange was still staying in her flat but they were not having sex because he had “exceeded the limits of what she felt she could accept” and she did not feel safe.
The following day, Miss W phoned Assange and arranged to meet him late in the evening, according to her statement. The pair went back to her flat in Enkoping, near Stockholm. Miss W told police that though they started to have sex, Assange had not wanted to wear a condom, and she had moved away because she had not wanted unprotected sex. Assange had then lost interest, she said, and fallen asleep. However, during the night, they had both woken up and had sex at least once when “he agreed unwillingly to use a condom”.
Early the next morning, Miss W told police, she had gone to buy breakfast before getting back into bed and falling asleep beside Assange. She had awoken to find him having sex with her, she said, but when she asked whether he was wearing a condom he said no. “According to her statement, she said: ‘You better not have HIV’ and he answered: ‘Of course not,’ ” but “she couldn’t be bothered to tell him one more time because she had been going on about the condom all night. She had never had unprotected sex before.”
The police record of the interview with Assange in Stockhom deals only with the complaint made by Miss A. However, Assange and his lawyers have repeatedly stressed that he denies any kind of wrongdoing in relation to Miss W.
In submissions to the Swedish courts, they have argued that Miss W took the initiative in contacting Assange, that on her own account she willingly engaged in sexual activity in a cinema and voluntarily took him to her flat where, she agrees, they had consensual sex. They say that she never indicated to Assange that she did not want to have sex with him. They also say that in a text message to a friend, she never suggested she had been raped and claimed only to have been “half asleep”.
Police spoke to Miss W’s ex-boyfriend, who told them that in two and a half years they had never had sex without a condom because it was “unthinkable” for her. Miss W told police she went to a chemist to buy a morning-after pill and also went to hospital to be tested for STDs. Police statements record her contacting Assange to ask him to get a test and his refusing on the grounds that he did not have the time.
On Wednesday 18 August, according to police records, Miss A told Harold and a friend that Assange would not leave her flat and was sleeping in her bed, although she was not having sex with him and he spent most of the night sitting with his computer. Harold told police he had asked Assange why he was refusing to leave the flat and that Assange had said he was very surprised, because Miss A had not asked him to leave. Miss A says she spent Wednesday night on a mattress and then moved to a friend’s flat so she did not have to be near him. She told police that Assange had continued to make sexual advances to her every day after they slept together and on Wednesday 18 August had approached her, naked from the waist down, and rubbed himself against her.
The following day, Harold told police, Miss A called him and for the first time gave him a full account of her complaints about Assange. Harold told police he regarded her as “very, very credible” and he confronted Assange, who said he was completely shocked by the claims and denied all of them. By Friday 20 August, Miss W had texted Miss A looking for help in finding Assange. The two women met and compared stories.
Harold has independently told the Guardian Miss A made a series of calls to him asking him to persuade Assange to take an STD test to reassure Miss W, and that Assange refused. Miss A then warned if Assange did not take a test, Miss W would go to the police. Assange had rejected this as blackmail, Harold told police.
Assange told police that Miss A spoke to him directly and complained to him that he had torn their condom, something that he regarded as false.
Late that Friday afternoon, Harold told police, Assange agreed to take a test, but the clinics had closed for the weekend. Miss A phoned Harold to say that she and Miss W had been to the police, who had told them that they couldn’t simply tell Assange to take a test, that their statements must be passed to the prosecutor. That night, the story leaked to the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
By Saturday morning, 21 August, journalists were asking Assange for a reaction. At 9.15am, he tweeted: “We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks’. Now we have the first one.” The following day, he tweeted: “Reminder: US intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks as far back as 2008.”
The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet asked if he had had sex with his two accusers. He said: “Their identities have been made anonymous so even I have no idea who they are. We have been warned that the Pentagon, for example, is thinking of deploying dirty tricks to ruin us.”
Assange’s Swedish lawyers have since suggested that Miss W’s text messages – which the Guardian has not seen – show that she was thinking of contacting Expressen and that one of her friends told her she should get money for her story. However, police statements by the friend offer a more innocent explanation: they say these text messages were exchanged several days after the women had made their complaint. They followed an inquiry from a foreign newspaper and were meant jokingly, the friend stated to police.
The Guardian understands that the recent Swedish decision to apply for an international arrest warrant followed a decision by Assange to leave Sweden in late September and not return for a scheduled meeting when he was due to be interviewed by the prosecutor. Assange’s supporters have denied this, but Assange himself told friends in London that he was supposed to return to Stockholm for a police interview during the week beginning 11 October, and that he had decided to stay away. Prosecution documents seen by the Guardian record that he was due to be interviewed on 14 October.
The co-ordinator of the WikiLeaks group in Stockholm, who is a close colleague of Assange and who also knows both women, told the Guardian: “This is a normal police investigation. Let the police find out what actually happened. Of course, the enemies of WikiLeaks may try to use this, but it begins with the two women and Julian. It is not the CIA sending a woman in a short skirt.”
Assange’s lawyers were asked to respond on his behalf to the allegations in the documents seen by the Guardian on Wednesday evening. Tonight they said they were still unable obtain a response from Assange.
Assange’s solicitor, Mark Stephens, said: “The allegations of the complainants are not credible and were dismissed by the senior Stockholm prosecutor as not worthy of further investigation.” He said Miss A had sent two Twitter messages that appeared to undermine her account in the police statement.
Assange’s defence team had so far been provided by prosecutors with only incomplete evidence, he said. “There are many more text and SMS messages from and to the complainants which have been shown by the assistant prosecutor to the Swedish defence lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, which suggest motivations of malice and money in going to the police and to Espressen and raise the issue of political motivation behind the presentation of these complaints. He [Hurtig] has been precluded from making notes or copying them.
“We understand that both complainants admit to having initiated consensual sexual relations with Mr Assange. They do not complain of any physical injury. The first complainant did not make a complaint for six days (in which she hosted the respondent in her flat [actually her bed] and spoke in the warmest terms about him to her friends) until she discovered he had spent the night with the other complainant.
“The second complainant, too, failed to complain for several days until she found out about the first complainant: she claimed that after several acts of consensual sexual intercourse, she fell half asleep and thinks that he ejaculated without using a condom – a possibility about which she says they joked afterwards.
“Both complainants say they did not report him to the police for prosecution but only to require him to have an STD test. However, his Swedish lawyer has been shown evidence of their text messages which indicate that they were concerned to obtain money by going to a tabloid newspaper and were motivated by other matters including a desire for revenge.”
Gayblackcanada 