Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Egypt court to consider lawsuit against Turkey “state that supports terrorism,”

By

ALEXANDRIA 

tayyip-erdogan-8-at-the-UNSC

An Egyptian court on Saturday set Feb. 24 for considering a lawsuit, demanding the designation of Turkey as a “state that supports terrorism,” a judicial source has said.

“The court of urgent matters in the coastal city of Alexandria scheduled the first hearing in the case for Feb. 24,” the source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.

He added that a lawyer called Tarek Mahmoud had filed the lawsuit at the court. report Middl Eeast Monitor

The judicial source said Mahmoud had claimed in his case that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had supported the Muslim Brotherhood movement and criticised Egypt following the ouster by the army of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July of 2013.

The Brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails, was declared a “terrorist organisation” by the Egyptian government in December of 2013.

The judicial source added that the lawyer filing the case also claimed that Turkey was the main source of arms entering Egypt and ending up in the hands of terrorists.

“Turkey adopts hostile stances against Egypt after it became a haven for Muslim Brotherhood leaders who face criminal charges in Egypt,” the judicial source quoted Mahmoud as saying in his lawsuit.

He added that the lawyer noted in his case that Turkey also hosted several meetings of the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and hosted satellite channels owned by some Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

The Turkish government has not commented on the lawsuit yet.

Relations between Egypt and Turkey have continued to deteriorate since Morsi’s ouster in 2013.

February/08/2015

Switzerland: Armenian genocide: “Parliament must not play historians”

By

arton107449-480x236Wednesday, Switzerland will face before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights Dogu Perinçek, who had publicly denied the existence of the Armenian genocide. The lawyer and National Councillor Yves Nidegger (UDC / GE) has heard the voice of the 130,000 Turks living in Switzerland defending the position of the Federation of Turkish Associations in Western Switzerland

Wednesday, Switzerland will face Dogu Perinçek before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party had publicly denied the existence of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Convicted of racial discrimination by the police court in Lausanne (judgment upheld by the Federal Court), the Everyone has enjoyed the support of the ECHR, the latter believing that Switzerland had violated his freedom of expression. The lawyer and National Councillor Yves Nidegger (UDC / GE) has heard the voice of the 130,000 Turks living in Switzerland defending the position of the Federation of Turkish Associations in western Switzerland.

Time: Why the term genocide is it not applicable to events of 1915?

Yves Nidegger: It is up to historians to say whether this term is applicable or not, and a commission of Turkish and Armenian historians was specifically formed for this in the context of the Zurich protocols. As this historic debate is ongoing, there is no sanction opinions, even if they are false or hateful, from either party.

- The National Council has acknowledged the existence of such a genocide in 2003 …

- It is always a mistake for a parliament to play the historians, this is not its role. In a democracy, we can not have the same people who say the official story as a resolution and enact a criminal provision to punish those who have the bad taste to disagree with it. If it were possible in the Soviet Union, this can not be in Switzerland.

- Why Dogu Perinçek’s statements do not they fall within the scope of Article 261 bis of the Penal Code, which con damns those who “minimize crimes against humanity”?

- The article speaks of one who “grossly minimizes” a crime against humanity. But the killings are not denied by Mr Perinçek. He does not say that the Armenians have not suffered or are suffering dummy. It simply says that to qualify these genocidal events to accuse Turkey is an international lie. You can be completely disagree with what he says. Freedom of speech has limits, of course, but the limits that the state may make the exercise of freedom of expression is also limited. The issue is there.

- How to explain the vigor with which the Turkish authorities are fighting to deny the term genocide?

- The explanation is pretty much the same as for a Swiss who does not want to be condemned by the ECHR for violating freedom of expression. The Turks do not want to be called a Nazi. Who would want, anyway?

- It’s still funny that the UDC that you are defending an opinion which is against Switzerland, which is more a court that your party tries to kill, right?

- (Laughs) For the first time, you will see the UDC invoke the infallible law of the Court and the superiority of international law. If the Grand Chamber disclaims Switzerland, or be amended article 261 bis, or you leave the ECHR.

- If one recognizes Dogu Perinçek the right to speak, would it would not allow the construction of an Armenian memorial in the Ariana Park, close to the UN?

- Not in the Ariana park under UN windows. And one that is here is the city of Geneva, it is the state, even if all this was done at the insistence of the Armenians. When the state is the official history by saying, “I think it is genocide,” this is not quite the same thing as a private memorial erected on a private plot, for example the Armenian church. I am in the opinion of Didier Burkhalter: mark the UN territory with an extremely serious charge of a people against another is not in the spirit of Geneva or that of international Geneva.

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/d27b4474-a590-11e4-9acf-c65b500212f4/G%C3%A9nocide_arm%C3%A9nien_Le_parlement_ne_doit_pas_jouer_les_historiens

Tuesday, January 27, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Gross and deliberate denial of the Armenian genocide is not protected by freedom of expression

By

arton107411-468x319The hearing in this Wednesday, January 28 before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Perincek v. Switzerland will major issue to determine whether the application of the Swiss anti-racist standard in the denial of Armenian genocide is a violation of freedom of expression (art. 10 ECHR). At the time of the commemoration of the centenary of the genocide, the issue is fundamental.

In the first judgment of 17 December 2013, the Court upheld the appeal of Mr. Perincek – convicted in Switzerland by three successive instances of racial discrimination – and held that the conviction of Mr. Perincek by the Swiss courts violated Article 10 of the Convention establishing the right to freedom of expression. The Court has built on the absence of a “general consensus” on the legal definition of genocide of the Armenian experience as well as a pressing social need which could justify the criminalization of Holocaust denial.

To recall, Mr. Perincek visited in 2005 in several cities in Switzerland at the head of an organization called Talaat Pasha Committee (named after the major responsible for the genocide of the Armenians and for that condemned at the time by a military court Turkish) to repeat in public, in six different occasions, that the “Armenian genocide was an international imperialist lie.”

In the past, the European Court had yet clear that the denial of a crime against humanity was one of the worst forms of racial defamation and incitement to hatred (Garaudy v. France).

In this case, since the MEDZ Yeghern was the basis for the definition of legal concepts of crime against first humanity and genocide then, and since the absolute majority of the scientific world as Genocide the extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, his denial and intentional justification can not be tolerated. In sentencing Mr. Perincek, the Swiss courts have made this plain. The Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA), which initiated the case in Switzerland by filing a complaint against the applicant was admitted by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to intervene in this case. On this occasion, the ASA was first wished to recall the need to protect the victims of crime perpetrated in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire. These victims have been forgotten by the Court in its previous judgment.

The ASA then argued that the Swiss courts have carefully examined the case and properly understood the wrongfulness of Mr. Perincek. The ASA is concerned that the Court was substituted for the Swiss courts, contradicting and putting the particular question the consensus on the qualification of the massacres of 1915.

Finally, the ASA announced that it had been deeply wounded by some passages in the judgment of 17 December 2013 and in particular in that the Court has made a distinction between genocide, which leads to a difference in treatment between unhappy victims of genocide.

While the centennial of the Armenian Genocide will be commemorated this year, the ASA hopes that the European Court of Human Rights be no mistake about the will of Mr. Perincek and confirmed in the present case, the wrongfulness of his remarks.

Additional Information:

The following people – accompanied by the Board of the SAA before the Court, Mr. Frédéric Krenc (+32/2/5331085) – will be present at the hearing on 28 January 2015.

Andreas Dreisiebner (German, English) – President of the ASA – Tel. : + 4179 671 8619

Mr. Sarkis Shahinian (French, German, Italian, English) – Honorary President of the ASA – Tel. : + 4176 399 1625

Monday, January 26, 2015,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

Who will go from Armenia to ECHR to attend Perincek vs. Switzerland case?

By

ECHR courtYEREVAN. – The delegation from Armenia will leave on January 26 to participate in the hearing of the “Dogu Perincek vs. Switzerland” case, which will be held on January 28 at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber.

The sources of Armenian News-NEWS.am have informed the aforesaid.

From Armenia, Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, Deputy Prosecutor General Emil Babayan, and Deputy Minister of Justice Arman Tatoyan, will go to the ECHR to attend the hearing.

In addition, internationally renowned attorneys Geoffrey Robertson, Amal Ramzi Clooney—the wife of famous actor George Clooney—, and Toby Collis will defend Armenia’s interest at the European court.

All six attorneys, who will be representing Armenia, are expected to address the ECHR.

In 2008, a Swiss court had convicted Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian Genocide. In December 2013, the ECHR had ruled in favor of Perincek’s lawsuit that was filed against Switzerland. Subsequently, the Government of Switzerland had decided to petition that the Dogu Perincek case be referred for a review by the ECHR Grand Chamber. Afterward, Armenia had petitioned to the ECHR, and it now acts as a third party in this case.

Dogu Perincek is Chairman of the socialist Workers’ Party of Turkey. In addition, he heads the Talat Pasha organization, which actively fights against the Armenian Genocide’s recognition in Europe.

Turkey Judge hushes up Erdoğan’s link to al-Qadi in hearing into bugging case

By

201153_newsdetailThe hearing at a trial on Friday into the planting of a bugging device in current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s prime ministerial office back in 2011 was marred by the judge’s interference into the suspect’s testimony, which hinted that Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman who was on the UN and US terror lists for financing al-Qaeda, was a special guest of Erdoğan for two months.

The trial of 12 police officers and a former senior member of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) began on Friday at the Ankara 7th High Criminal Court.

Mehmet Sürer, the defense attorney of Serhat Demir, a suspect in the case and a police officer who was assigned to the protective detail of Erdoğan, asked Mehmet Yüksel and Zeki Bulut, former chiefs of the Prime Ministry’s protective services, to disclose the secret assignment given to Demir for two months in İstanbul.

When police chief Yüksel stood up to respond to the question under cross-examination by defense attorney Sürer, the judge, Hüseyin Karamanoğlu, immediately intervened and asked the suspect to not disclose that information, citing state secrecy rules.

In an interview with the liberal Taraf daily a while back, Demir revealed that he had been assigned to protect Qadi for two months. Qadi was barred from entering Turkey at the time by a Cabinet decision pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions. Yet, a corruption investigation into Erdoğan’s son revealed that Qadi entered Turkey illegally under the protection of Erdoğan and met with Erdoğan, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) head Hakan Fidan and others.

In the hearing on Monday, Demir said he was originally assigned to accompany Erdoğan’s special guest in İstanbul for a week but that he had to stay there longer when the guest’s stay was extended by two months. He was prevented from disclosing Qadi’s name in the hearing by the judge.

Emre Uslu, a security analyst, said Demir’s name was added to the government-orchestrated sham trial into the bugging incident because “he is a police officer who, after being asked by Erdoğan, took Yasin al-Qadi from Saudi Arabia to İstanbul, served as his guard during his stay in İstanbul and was aware of his meetings there with a number of authorities, including MİT head Hakan Fidan.”

Police investigators and prosecutors who inquired into the controversial activities of Qadi, who was listed as a financial supporter of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization by the US until very recently, were all reassigned, removed or even fired from their positions.

The botched corruption investigation revealed that Qadi entered Turkey seven times before his name was taken off the US and UN lists of those suspected of supporting terrorist activities. He entered Turkey without any paperwork at various airports, where he arrived on his private jet with the full knowledge and protection of the Prime Ministry. He was also given an official vehicle, a protection officer and a driver by the Prime Ministry, according to a leaked police investigation file. According to the file, Qadi and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan had 12 meetings in Turkey.

Fidan also met with Qadi five times in İstanbul and Ankara during a period when he was not supposed to be allowed into Turkey.

The 13 suspects in the current bugging case face charges of wiretapping Erdoğan for the aim of political espionage, violating the privacy of interpersonal communication and recording interpersonal conversation without permission. In their indictment, the prosecutors seek up to 36 years in prison for the suspects. It states that conversations in the office of President Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, were illegally monitored via bugging devices between Nov. 24, 2011 and Dec. 29, 2011.

Prosecutor Durak Çetin submitted the indictment to the court in November 2014, requesting an arrest warrant for 12 police officers who were detained on June 14 and former TÜBİTAK Deputy President Hasan Palaz. Palaz — who was first a witness but is now a suspect in the case — had earlier argued that TÜBİTAK had been pressured to issue a report stating that the bugs had been planted on a specific date.

During their interrogation at the prosecutor’s office, the police officers suspected of installing a bugging device in Erdoğan’s Ankara office denied any link to a device that was found during examinations of the Prime Ministry conducted by MİT three years ago.

The investigation into the spying started two-and-a-half years ago and the prosecutor of the case has been changed three times. No concrete evidence against the suspects has been found. The 72-page indictment in the case is based on newspaper clippings from government dailies, a report by MİT, a report by the Prime Ministry’s Inspection Board and the statements of a secret witness who reportedly works at a company that sells bugging devices.

Apart from the bugging device found in Erdoğan’s office at the Prime Ministry, the former prime minister announced on live TV on Dec. 22, 2012 that bugging devices had also been found in the office at his Ankara home. He did not specify when the devices were found. “Security units [the police] found those devices. They were placed inside the office in my house. Such things have occurred despite all measures having been taken to prevent them,” he said.

Bülent Korucu, a Turkish analyst who is closely following the case, said the indictment is ridden with deficiencies.

He said the prosecutor’s office was first notified of the incident on Feb. 24, 2012. Although the prosecutor’s office requested evidence which could be used for a judicial investigation, the Prime Ministry sent it on Jan. 13, 2014. “The Prime Ministry Monitoring Council [BTK] is said to have conducted the investigation. Yet the case involves a full-fledged judicial crime. It is unlawful to have the BTK conduct a judicial investigation. The BTK is not the authority to conduct an administrative investigation and is not authorized to perform a judicial investigation,” Korucu said.

Korucu also noted that the BTK was ordered to conduct the investigation on Dec. 25, 2012, i.e., exactly one year after the bugs were found on Dec. 24-25, 2011. He also questioned the most serious charge in the indictment, which is espionage for political purposes. “But we cannot find the elements of the offense in the indictment. There are no recordings and there is no information about the country for which this espionage was conducted. The only argument is that there are many foreign missions near the prime minister’s official residence. The suggestion is that these embassies are very close to the residence and can eavesdrop on the prime minister,” Korucu explained.

“The indictment falls short of substantiating the alleged crimes. It cannot establish a link between the evidence and the suspects. There are no fingerprints, no witnesses, no video recording or sound files which are said to have been recorded. It is not known who bought the devices and from where. It must have been a real challenge for the prosecutor to make up a crime and a criminal organization out of so many missing items,” he said.

During the hearing, the police officers suspected of installing a bugging device in Erdoğan’s Ankara office denied any link with a device that was found during examinations of the Prime Ministry conducted by MİT. The hearing also witnessed a procedural violation in which the judge did not order that the indictment be read out aloud in the courtroom. The judge also barred entry into the courtroom after the resumption of the hearing, which is only possible if a judge’s decision is present indicating it is a secret hearing; this, however, was not the case.

Karabakh court sentences Azeri saboteurs

By

186776A court in Karabakh on Monday, Dec 29 sentenced one Azerbaijani man to life imprisonment and another to 22 years in prison on charges stemming from the murder of an Armenian teenager which led to their high-profile arrests in July, RFE/FL Armenian service reports.

In a verdict condemned by Azerbaijan’s government, Dilgam Askerov and Shahbaz Quliyev were convicted of illegal border crossing and arms possession, espionage and kidnapping. Askerov, who was jailed for life, was also found guilty of killing Smbat Tsakanian, a 17-year-old Armenian resident of the Kelbajar district sandwiched between Armenia and Karabakh.

Quliyev and Askerov were separately captured by Karabakh Armenian security forces in July after crossing into Kelbajar together with another Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov. Hasanov was gunned down several days later, moments after opening fire at a military vehicle that carried an Armenian army officer and a civilian. The officer, Sargis Abrahamian, was killed while the 37-year-old woman, Karine Davtian, gravely wounded.

The shootings were reported four days before Tsakanian was found dead. The Karabakh authorities believe that he was taken hostage and killed by the Azerbaijani saboteurs.

Quliyev, 46, and Askerov, 54, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge when they went on trial in Stepanakert in October. Each of them claimed to have had no part in the boy’s killing which the prosecution says was committed with an assault rifle confiscated from Askerov.

During his cross-examination in the Karabakh court last month, Askerov said he did not fire the fatal gunshots and even tried unsuccessfully to convince his companions to spare Tsakanian’s life. He referred to Quliyev as a “very bad person” who was recruited by Azerbaijani special services to infiltrate Kelbajar. Quliyev dismissed those claims as a lie.

During the trial the prosecution publicized what it considers another key piece of evidence: amateur video that was shot by Askerov in the days leading up to his arrest. It shows the two other Azerbaijanis and Tsakanian walking through a forest in the mountainous district.

Askerov can be heard saying from behind the camera, “We have captured a piglet. He is about 20 years old and doesn’t speak Azerbaijani. We can’t let him go because he would denounce us. Let’s go and see what happens.”

Commenting on the footage, Askerov claimed that he and the other Azerbaijanis did not kidnap Tsakanian from his home in a remote Kelbajar farm. He said they only asked the teenager to show them the way to the town of Kelbajar.

The Azerbaijani government has repeatedly denounced the trial as illegal and demanded the release of both men.

The authorities in Stepanakert have rejected such claims before. They say that the arrested Azerbaijanis cannot be treated like prisoners of war because their brutal and inhuman actions targeted a civilian.

Related links:
Դատարանը հրապարակեց ամբաստանյալներ Գուլիևի եւ Ասկերովի գործով դատավճիռը. ArtsakhPress
RFE/RL Armenian Service. Karabakh Court Sentences Azerbaijani Saboteurs

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen

By

Toygun Atilla ISTANBUL

n_75831_1A Turkish court has issued an arrest warrant for U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, a former ally turned arch-enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Report hurriyet daily news

The Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul described Gülen in a Dec. 18 request to the 1st Criminal Court of Peace as, “The leader of a criminal organization publicly known as the ‘Hizmet Movement,’ which was structured in media, economy and bureaucracy in violation of laws and regulations.”

Prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz requested the arrest warrant by stressing that “enough concrete evidence showing that Gülen committed a crime was collected during the investigation” into the activity of his community.

The request noted that Gülen has been abroad since 1998 and the prosecution was not able to contact him for the investigation, Anadolu Agency reported.

According to the request that the court accepted Dec. 19, Gülen is accused by the prosecution on three counts: 1) Forming and managing a terrorist organization, which carries a 10-15 years prison sentence. 2) Causing a victim to be unrightfully prosecuted due to slander, which carries 3-7 years of prison sentence. 3) Depriving a person from his/her freedom through force, threat and fraud, which carries a 2-7 years prison sentence.

Earlier, TRT Haber, the state-run television news station, had rescinded a story in which it claimed an Istanbul court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen.

In police raids on Dec. 14, Samanyolu Media Group head Hidayet Karaca was arrested, along with daily Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı. Dumanlı, however, was released by the court on Dec. 19. Both the Samanyolu channel and the Zaman newspaper are linked to Gülen.

Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Gülen, whose followers are thought to hold influential positions within the police and judiciary, of conducting the graft investigation in December 2013 as part of a “coup attempt” to overthrow the government.

December/19/2014

Armenia should be more active over Armenian Genocide problem – MP

By

armenian-mpIn an interview with Tert.am, Armenian crossbencher Edmon Marukyan spoke of the approaching centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

“The government has its functions, but is should not always raise problems that could cause harm to its international relations.

Relevant organizations represent the interests of Armenians in the west and raise the problem of their rights,” the MP said

The organizations in question would act correctly if their raised their problems within law, in Turkey’s judicial bodies, he added.

“I am not naïve to believe that Turkey’s courts will uphold the claims. However, it would be a start. That is, by employing the mechanisms they could take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Numerous verdicts against Turkey have been returned in Cyprus-related cases,” Mr Marukyan said.

It is important to record seizure of property and murders.

“As a state, Armenia could raise the problems at the United Nations, but the way of doing it should be different from that of organizations,” Mr Marukyan said.

Certain issues need to be raised jointly, others do not. Since Armenia is negotiating re-opening of border with Turkey, raising such problems could prevent the negotiation from producing results.

“Let the border be opened and diplomatic relations established, and organizations defend their rights.”

 

Armenia: National Archive Chief Says Enough Documents to Bring Turkey to Court

By

virabianYEREVAN (Mediamax)—Director of Armenia’s National Archive Amatuni Virabian said Thursday that there are enough necessary documents on the Armenian Genocide in the archive to initiate an international court trial against Turkey.

Ahead of the Armenian Genocide centennial, the National Archive is going to publish collections on Armenia’s material and cultural losses over the Genocide years, Mediamax reports.

“We are willing to publish in the upcoming years all the documents on the Genocide preserved in the archive. It will be a few years’ work,” said the Director of the Archive.

In 2015, the Archive will also publish a collection of documentary materials on the property owned by the Armenian Church, including Western Armenian churches.

“We have a large number of documents on the ownership of our churches even in the Ottoman Turkish language. Now we aim to translate them into Armenian or English,” said Virabian.

According to him, work on creating an e-vault of names of Armenian Genocide victims is underway. “I don’t think we will be able to collect the names of 1.5 million victims. A long time has passed and we just started the work. But I think we will be able to publish around 300 thousand names. Presently, the Archive preserves files of around 30 thousand Armenian orphans whose murdered parents’ names are known,” said Virabian.

Ahead of 2015, the Archive will also start another project presenting stories of 100 Armenians who survived the Genocide, found refuge abroad and became recognized figures in culture, science or business.

The Armenian National Archive has prepared a Russian book titled “The Participation of Armenians in the First World War,” which was published in Moscow. A three-volume publication titled “The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey” has also been released. The first volume has already been translated into English and Turkish, Virabian said.

Assange! Swedish court sets hearing date as whistleblower turns 43

By

A Swedish court has set the date for the Assange “rape case” hearing for July 16. The announcement comes as Twitter is bombarded with happy birthday wishes to the WikiLeaks founder, who turned 43 on Thursday, BORlT39CYAA-rOyhis second year at the Ecuadorean embassy.

The public hearing at Stockholm district court will be the first legal move in the case since the WikiLeaks founder requested asylum in the South-American country’s embassy in 2012.

However, it is more than likely that in two weeks from now the hearing will kick off without the defendant.

Julian Assange, now 43, is still at the Ecuadorean embassy in the UK capital, and showing no signs of getting ready to travel to Stockholm. Should he leave the embassy – even to greet his fans who came to the embassy with happy birthday banners – the whistleblower will be arrested and extradited to Sweden.

Since Swedish prosecutors do not consider the possibility of questioning the WikiLeaks founder in London, Stockholm district court extended Assange’s invitation to come to Sweden for the hearing.

The invitation for Assange was sent to an “address unknown”, the Guardian reported. There are valid reasons, the court said, why he may not attend the hearing, like public transport, sudden illness, or unforeseen circumstances.

If Assange has no good reason not to attend, he was advised to arrive on time and “clear your pockets of metal objects and put them in the plastic bins provided”, the newspaper cited the court’s letter to the whistleblower.

His legal team argued that restrictions of “fundamental freedoms” since the allegations were made in 2010 are unreasonable and disproportionate, but the prosecutor disagreed saying that confinement in the embassy was self-imposed and “cannot be equated with detention”, The Guardian reports.

“In our opinion, when assessing proportionality, only the time [detained] for questioning in the English courts should be taken into account,” the Guardian cited prosecutors Marianne Ny and Ingred Isgren. They pointed out that Assange was arrested for just 10 days in December 2010.