The Swedish connection

Both accusers boasted about their 'conquest' of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

The two Swedish women who have brought sex charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange boasted about their relationship with him days before going to cops.

Based on information available on various websites quoting police and court papers, here's an account of what happened.

The event organizer was 31-year-old Anna Ardin, who has been described as a feminist, leftist, social democrat and opponent of abortion. She has worked at the Uppsala University, handling equality issues for the students' union. On Twitter, she has been called a "CIA agent" for "framing" Assange. (The net is abuzz with conspiracy theories on how Assange was framed.)

When Assange arrived in Stockholm, Ardin invited him to stay at her flat while she visited her family for a few days out in the country. Ardin returned home on August 13; she and Assange had sex that night. Both have admitted a condom was used and it broke. On August 20, Ardin would go to police alleging that Assange deliberately broke the condom during sex.

Ardin's co-accuser, 26-year-old Sofia Wilen, an aspiring photographer, had sex with Assange on the evening of August 16 and again the following morning. The first time, a condom was used; the second time, there was no condom. On August 20, Wilen would go to police alleging that Assange had refused to wear a condom.

After both sexual encounters, neither woman seemed to harbour any resentment against Assange. One of Assange's lawyers has been quoted as saying: "The exact content of Wilen's mobile phone texts is not yet known but their bragging and exculpatory character has been confirmed by Swedish prosecutors. Neither Wilen's nor Ardin's texts complain of rape."

On August 14, the day following the night of "crime", Assange delivered a 90-minute speech about how war's first casualty is truth. Ardin was in attendance (as was Wilen) but showed no signs of the previous night's "trauma". At 2 o'clock that night, while hosting a party in Assange's honour at her flat, Ardin tweeted: "Sitting outside; nearly freezing; with the world's coolest people; it's pretty amazing."

After going to police on August 20, she deleted these tweets. After sex with Assange on the morning of August 17, Wilen went out, and bought, then cooked breakfast – oatmeal and juice.

On August 18, Wilen called up Ardin and told her that she had unprotected sex with Assange. She said she was upset he didn't use a condom and was afraid she might have contracted an STD or become pregnant. Ardin said she too had had sex with Assange. On August 20, both women filed charges against him.

And an obscure Swedish law was invoked. It is sometimes called the "surprise sex" law. In essence, it holds that if a woman withdraws her consent at any point during intercourse, and the man continues, it becomes rape. This transition from consensual to non-consensual sex is what Assange is accused of. The penalty is reported to be a fine of $715. But he has been arrested and now denied bail.

All this will have to be proved in the court — a Swedish one.