Photo showing victim 48 hrs after sexual assault with Assange could save him

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London, Aug. 26: An unremarkable image of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with his friends could help him clear his name from sex allegations.

A woman seen in the picture was though beaming in it, later told the police 48 hours before the picture was taken that Assange pinned her down in her flat and sexually assaulted her.

If the case ever reaches court, Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, his lawyers will argue that the photograph undermines the 33-year-old woman’s entire story. And, they claim, there is more.

According to the Daily Mail, in the two days after the alleged assault in Sweden, Assange and Woman A, as she is known, attended a conference and two dinner parties where it is claimed they were practically inseparable.

During one party, Woman A tweeted that she was ‘with the world’s coolest, smartest people!’.

The photograph was taken on August 15, 2010, at the Glenfiddich restaurant in Stockholm, at a dinner of meatballs and schnapps hosted by Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party (PP), which campaigns for greater government transparency.

Although by all accounts it was a jolly occasion, there was some serious discussion that at times became ‘passionate and intense’.

Falkvinge said the purpose of the dinner, which lasted three hours, was to sign a contract between the PP and WikiLeaks so Assange’s organisation could use the party’s computer servers, the report said.

Since the assault charges were brought, Falkvinge and Troberg have given detailed statements to the police in support of Assange, the report said.

Falkvinge said their testimony included observations about the body language between Assange and Woman A, who arrived with another woman, called Pietra, who stayed just for the starter.

Falkvinge sat next to Assange, with Woman A sitting diagonally opposite them.

“Most of the night, Julian was speaking with me,” Falkvinge said, adding: “This was a heads of organisation meeting and everybody had a counterpart to talk to. It was a professional dinner”.

Falkvinge refused to go into details about the way Woman A behaved with Assange, because he has to give evidence in court if a trial is held, the report said.

But he made it clear that he did not think Woman A behaved like a victim or someone who had suffered a traumatic sexual experience only two days earlier, the report said. (ANI)