Assange: Hearing puts light on recent life

LONDON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking after the first day of an extradition hearing in London, said the hearing focused on his life of the past few months.

"For the past 5 1/2 months we have been in a condition where a black box has been applied to my life. On the outside of that black box has been written the word 'rape,'" Assange told reporters. "That box is now, thanks to an open court process, been opened."

Prosecuting and defense attorneys argued Monday whether Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face the sex-crime accusations for which he has yet to be charged, The Guardian reported. Swedish prosecutors said they want to discuss the accusations with him and could get him back to Sweden only through a European arrest warrant. Assange has denied allegations of raping two women, saying the relations were consensual and the charges are part of a smear campaign.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

Geoffrey Robertson, Assange's attorney, argued his client wouldn't get a fair trial in Sweden and disputed the allegations the women made, saying the sex was consensual.

Because rape trials in Sweden are closed to the public, "trying this man on these charges behind closed doors would be a flagrant denial of justice," Robertson said.

When challenging the charges by one claimant, called woman A, Robertson said none of the three charges she brought indicated there was a lack of consent, arguing it was "hyperbolic and irrational to suggest there was wickedness involved."

Concerning the second claimant, woman B, Robertson challenged the prosecution's description of events as "minor rape," The Guardian reported.

"That's contradiction in terms. Rape not a minor charge," Robertson said, noting that what Swedish law considers "minor rape" would not be rape in other jurisdictions because it doesn't have coercion, force or a lack of consent. "It's not natural to call this rape."

Prosecutor Clare Montgomery said the charges were offenses under English law so they were "extraditable" and rebutted the defense argument Assange couldn't be extradited for questioning, but only for prosecution.

Montgomery said the arrest warrant "clearly denotes a sufficient intention to prosecute," The Guardian reported.

Assange's lawyers have said the proceedings were politically motivated because of the leaking of U.S. documents -- sensitive State Department cables and documents concerning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that the ultimate goal is to get their client into the U.S. legal system.