Assange Affair: Anna Ardin's 'We' Complex

Through the past more clearly.

Get It Try It

Right after the bomb hit about Julian Assange being hunted on the streets of Stockholm for double rape (you might have had to see the printed edition of Expressen for that, a duckpond exclusive) and a few hours later when chief Stockholm prosecutor Eva Finné dismissed the major charges and rescinded the warrant, someone contacted Expressen's archenemy Aftonbladet and offered an 'exclusive'.

It was Anna Ardin.

What wasn't known at the time was that there were other events occurring as well - such as Anna Ardin's telephone interrogation with inspector Sara Wennerblom which took place the same Saturday, beginning at 11:31 and ending 49 minutes later at 12:20.

Some time during this interrogation, inspector Wennerblom asked if perchance Ardin still had the condom she accused Julian Assange of willfully and deliberately ripping right in the middle of an act of intercourse.

Now normally most people don't hang onto used condoms. Of course they don't. Which makes Ardin's response to Wennerblom all the more surprising. For Ardin told the police inspector she might very well have to look around, as the odds were good it was still there somewhere.

The thought boggles the imagination of course: Johannes Wahlström saw Ardin's flat, a mere 25 square metres with barely the room to do a U-turn on foot. Could one realistically waylay anything - much less a condom - in that small space?

No matter. For it's known today, thanks to the leak of the crime lab report - that Ardin did in fact produce a condom for the police who came knocking on her door only minutes after ending her interrogation, and that this condom lacked all semblance of genomic DNA, and condoms used by human beings irrevocably and without exception are literally soaked in genomic DNA, and therefore the condom Ardin gave the police that Saturday afternoon 21 August 2010 was falsified evidence.

The crime lab results don't lie. They can't. It's there in black on white. No genomic DNA. How did Ardin do it? How did she rip a new condom to make it look like what she'd told Wennerblom? And why? That's not known, but it's not important either. For she seems to have realised only a short time afterward that she'd made a very very bad mistake.

The announcement came on the radio first: chief inspector Eva Finné had reviewed the Assange case, was in fact the first prosecutor to have access to any documentation on the case, and she stated unequivocally that although she believed the testimony of Sofia Wilén, in fact there was no crime committed.

Case closed, arrest warrant rescinded, Julian Assange was a free man.

But Eva Finné had not yet seen the interrogation of Anna Ardin, so she left that part of the case open.

Oops! Guess Who's Left Standing!

Ardin had been the silent partner up to that point. She'd been the one who'd suggested to Wilén that they go to the police to 'ask questions about STDs' (knowing full well it was nonsense) and most likely it was she who told the first prosecutor on duty at Klara that 'this was about rape' (something that evidently bewildered Sofia Wilén) but Ardin managed to stay in the background.

Ardin's 'job' was to get the spacey Wilén to the police, get charges filed (it's a crime against the state, so Wilén doesn't have to file charges herself, even know what's going on, Ardin needs only get the police to see the case as 'rape').

And Ardin gets drawn in a bit but things are under control. Her own interrogation is the following day, and she has plenty of spirit and energy to go out partying that Friday evening with Kajsa Borgnäs and others.

It's not known if Ardin stayed throughout the entire Wilén interrogation. This would of course be unethical if not illegal. It's been suggested she was there for a while. It's not thought she remained until Wilén and Krans were informed that Julian was now being hunted and was under arrest - the time when Krans decided Wilén was too upset at the news to continue any further.

Ardin got home (or to a bed somewhere) that Friday evening thinking everything was hunky-dory. Sara Wennerblom rang her right before noon the following day. Cosy chitchat and at one point Ardin says the following.

'In answer to a question Anna says she didn't look closer at the condom, if it was broken as she thought, but she says she thinks she still has the condom at home and will look at it.'

And so although Ardin claims to be terrified of the possibility she's been infected (or impregnated) and although she's accusing Assange of deliberately (and magically) destroying a condom whilst conducting sex, she hasn't even checked the condom in ten days to see if it's true?

But now Ardin's out in the open. She's no longer the 'grey eminence'. The Assange case has been closed - save for her part.

And her part stinks to high heaven.

• She claims she was mortified Assange could have broken the condom.
• Yet she didn't bother actually checking for the condom for all of ten days?
• She tells Sara Wennerblom 'she thinks she still has the condom at home'.
• Now Wennerblom's sending someone round to pick up the condom.

So Ardin worked fast. And irrationally. And later that afternoon hears that the case is dismissed by Finné save for her own part. And that part hinges on a flaky story and a bit of falsified evidence.

And that's when she seeks out party comrade and artful dodger Claes Borgström, he of the notorious Quick scandal.

What Ardin Didn't Know

Anna Ardin didn't seek out Claes Borgström to get Sofia Wilén's part of the preliminary investigation reopened only hours after it had been closed. The idea is totally absurd, it wouldn't have been her business to do that, and she didn't even know such a thing could be possible, according to Claes Borgström himself. Ardin didn't seek out Claes Borgström for that purpose.

Ardin was scared. She'd fucked up bad. She needed advice - and fast. She sought out Claes Borgström. And what better lawyer to contact than the most corrupt in the country?

To her great relief, Claes Borgström told Ardin it was possible to petition to have a preliminary investigation reopened. Claes Borgström applied to be and was approved as legal counsel for both Wilén and Ardin, was soon in contact with inspector Gehlin, Gehlin forwarded Wilén's unsigned testimony, Borgström doctored it a bit according to all the unwritten rules, sent it back, Gehlin ordered Krans to reinsert the doctored testimony into the case files, the rest is history.

All save for one final detail.

Anna Ardin's 'We' Complex

Flashback's espressino is also going back in time, taking a second look, and he was fascinated by the interview Ardin suddenly gave Expressen's archenemy Aftonbladet the same Saturday (covered in Rixstep's Twelve Hours That Shook the World).

But espressino saw something no one else has noticed before - which may not be surprising, as people didn't have the facts then as they do today.

Namely Anna Ardin's 'we' complex. Espressino explains.

Anna Ardin's statement to Aftonbladet turned Finné's dismissal into a renewed attack on Assange

I think we get a very good picture of events through the 'anonymous' interview with AA in Aftonbladet 2010-08-21. This transpires after Finné's dismissed the 'rape' charges.

What sticks out is her 'we' - as if she's automatically become the spokesperson for all that's happened - as well as her formulations which have as their purpose to get the investigation reopened again.

Quote:

'Out of consideration to the ongoing police investigation, the 30yo woman doesn't want to reveal any further details at the present time, but she's already given the police a very detailed account. Even the other woman has given the police a very detailed account.'

How does Anna know the other woman gave a detailed account?

But does she know SW broke down at that point and refused to sign the testimony?

Quote:

'It's completely incorrect that we were afraid of Assange.'

How does she know that we weren't afraid?

Quote:

'The other woman wanted to press charges for rape. I offered my testimony as evidence for her testimony and to support her. We stand for this testimony, the woman told Aftonbladet.'

Again it's we! The other woman is the same woman who, when speaking to Assange, when the threats were very real, made an agreement with him that everything would be OK!

Quote:

'The accusations against Assange are of course not orchestrated by the Pentagon or anyone else. The responsibility for what happened to me and the other girl lies solely with a man with a twisted view of womanhood who can't take 'no' for an answer.'

Then the concluding remark where AA on behalf of both women deals with Assange's 'twisted view of womanhood' - did AA really believe that she at that point could continue to be anonymous? Evidently! Note as well that AA reserves the right to define 'twisted'. This is published on Saturday, the day after Assange is hung out by Expressen, after he's been exonerated by Finné.

Did AA have an agenda to get the case back on track again? You be the judge.

Note: The attack articles at Ardin's Rebella blog began the following week and initially included a defence of Ardin, a defence which was successively reworded several times over the months to come.