by Stefania Maurizi at Computer Weekly
The Crown Prosecution Service has finally searched for information about the destruction of emails from the WikiLeaks founder’s lawyer – but too late to retrieve data about the deleted documents
Is it possible that a public authority destroyed the email account of a lead lawyer assigned to a high-profile and controversial legal case, while the case was still ongoing?
And that for more than six years, that authority refused to undertake adequate searches as to who, when, why and how the account was destroyed?
And that when it finally did conduct such searches, it was too late to have retained almost all of the information as to when and why the account was destroyed?
Yes, that is precisely what happened with the Julian Assange case.
The UK authorities have finally conducted detailed searches to try to reconstruct how, when and why they deleted the email account of the lead Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer involved in liaising with Sweden over allegations against the WikiLeaks founder.
CPS Lawyer Paul Close advised Swedish prosecutors not to interview Assange in London after Sweden issued extradition proceedings against him over rape allegations. His advice helped create the legal paralysis that kept Assange arbitrarily detained in London and under investigation in Sweden for years.
Today, all investigations against Assange have been closed. The WikiLeaks founder was freed in June 2024, but the full truth is still not known.