Lawyer: Assange Faces 'Tough Climate' in Feminist-Friendly Sweden

(Dec. 8) -- Julian Assange, facing extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations, may be in more trouble than he realizes in a country where feminism is a powerful force and courts often favor the woman in rape cases, one of the country's top defense lawyers said today.

The WikiLeaks founder will also be up against one of the country's most formidable and well-connected attorneys, Claes Borgstrom, if Sweden succeeds in extraditing him from Britain.

Borgstrom, who represents Assange's two accusers, insisted in a news conference today that the allegations against the WikiLeaks founder are legitimate and not set up by the CIA or the U.S. government. Borgstrom's website was hacked by WikiLeaks supporters and unavailable for most of the day.

He is a strong feminist with ties to Sweden's top feminists, especially on issues of gender equality, which is a cornerstone of Swedish society.

One of Assange's two accusers is also known for her strong feminist views, having once written a treatise on how to take revenge on men. Both she and Borgstrom have been active in the Social Democratic Party.

"Assange is going to be coming into a very tough climate up here, and I wonder if he understands how much danger he's in," said Per E. Samuelson, a high-profile defense lawyer in Stockholm who specializes in defending men accused of rape.

"Some of the laws regarding rape are rather extreme, and the way they are applied in court is sometimes unbelievable," Samuelson told AOL News. "To be accused of a sex crime in Sweden is considered very serious. Swedish courts tend to believe what the woman says."

Samuelson also said that Assange's London lawyers made a mistake in not advising him to come to Sweden to face questioning rather than fighting extradition.

"He's making himself look like more of a suspect," Samuelson said. "He should have come here immediately. Even if Sweden handed him over to the U.S., he'd look like a hero."

Assange denies the allegations of molestation, unlawful coercion and rape made by two women who hosted a party for him in Stockholm in August. He has admitted having consensual sex with the women; his London lawyer has called the allegations "politically motivated."

There are three categories of rape in Sweden, "severe" rape, "regular rape" and "less severe" rape as well as a host of other charges involving sexual assault and coercion, the nuances of which were outlined in The New York Times.

The Swedish government recently ordered an investigation into the possibility of tightening rape laws even more, Samuelson said. What may be considered is a new law making clear a man has to have the approval and permission from a woman before he has sex with her.

"We've had cases when the victim admits that she lied and the man was not guilty but they still rule against the man," Samuelson said.

"The judge will say that we can't trust that she's telling the truth now. And in the future, a man in Sweden might find himself in prison on rape charges just because he didn't make absolute sure that he had the woman's permission.

"I consider myself a feminist too," Samuelson continued, noting that as much as 90 percent of rape cases he's seen result in convictions. "But I am not in favor of innocent men going to prison."

In addition, Borgstrom has already proved himself a force to be reckoned with in the Assange case. As the lawyer for the two accusers, he sharply criticized prosecutor Eva Finne's decision to dismiss the rape case against Assange on Aug. 21 because she felt the claims lacked "substance." Borgstrom appealed the decision and within a week, another prosecutor, Marianne Ny, was brought in and re-opened it.

Borgstrom has been associated with some of the more militant feminist Swedish politicians, like Gudrun Schyman, a former member of the Swedish Parliament who now runs the Feminist Initiative, a political party.

Schyman once compared all men to the Taliban and proposed what was called a "man tax" to cover the cost of domestic violence and sexual harassment of women. Borgstrom reportedly agreed with her idea for a man tax.

Borgstrom spent several years as the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman of Sweden, in which he acted as a watchdog ensuring gender equality all over the country. He was also the spokesman on gender equality issues for the Social Democratic Party.

Schyman's Feminist Initiative and Sweden's feminist movement took a hit in 2005 when a TV documentary about Swedish feminism, "The Gender War," shocked the country.

The respected head of Sweden's government-run network of women's shelters, Ireen von Wachenfeldt, was asked on camera if she agreed with a statement printed on some shelter literature saying: "To call a man an animal is to flatter him: he's a machine, a walking dildo."

Wachenfeldt said, "Yes. Men are animals. Don't you think so?"

The documentary also focused on Eva Lundgren, a prominent feminist and professor at Uppsala University, where one of Assange's accusers has been working as a research assistant.

Lundgren claimed in the documentary that at least half of all Swedish women have been the victims of male violence. She also said that a number of Swedish men involved with Satanic groups had murdered hundreds of babies as part of bizarre rituals.

A university inquiry into her claims formally discredited them, but she still works there.

Jenny Westerstrand, a researcher at Uppsala, was part of the university's well-known feminist research department with Lundgren until it was closed down two years ago. She said that Sweden has benefited from pressure from feminists on women's issues.

"We've had a lively debate for 20 years on how to frame sexualized violence, and there's been strong engagement from the women's movement who have pressed these issues constantly," Westerstrand told AOL News. "We're not man-eaters as they sometimes say in the press. We are for equality."

Westerstrand disagreed with some of Samuelson's theories about rape law and the courts.

"Saying no means no, and making it stick is not that easy," she said. "Only about one in 50 rape cases go to trial, and it's not easy to get a conviction."