London: A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused Sweden's prime minister on Friday of damaging his client's chances of a fair trial for alleged sex crimes by portraying him as "public enemy number one".
Assange's lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, opposing a Swedish bid to extradite the Australian, said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt had created a "toxic atmosphere" in Sweden with what he said was an inflammatory statement about Assange.
The three-day hearing at the top-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in southeast London was adjourned until Feb. 24 when Judge Howard Riddle is expected to rule whether Assange should be extradited.
Assange, a 39-year-old computer expert who infuriated the US government by releasing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables on his website, is wanted in Sweden to face allegations by two WikiLeaks volunteers of sexual misconduct during a visit there last August. Assange denies the allegations.
Riddle refused Robertson's request for more time to present evidence of the damage he said Reinfeldt's comments had done to Assange's ability to get a fair trial.
On Tuesday, Reinfeldt hit out at criticism, made during the Assange hearing, of his country's legal system.
"What worries me is that they are trying to shy away from the fact that there exists allegations that are very serious...," he told Swedish news channel TV4.
Robertson said Swedes viewed Assange as "public enemy number one as a result of the prime minister's statement".
"He (Assange) has in effect been denounced as an 'enemy of the people'," he said.
One of Assange's accusers alleges he "sexually molested her" by ignoring her request for him to use a condom during sex.
The second woman says Assange had sex with her without a condom while she was asleep. Prosecutors say that amounts to the least severe of three categories of rape in Sweden, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
Prosecutor Clare Montgomery contested the defence assertion that some of the allegations against Assange would not amount to an offence under English law.
"If a woman says to you: 'I only wish to have sex with you if you wear a condom', a person hearing that will understand that she is not consenting to have unprotected sex," she said.
"This is not a case of the police slipping under the bed clothes to interfere with private consensual acts. This is a case where the allegations (of one woman) would amount to rape under English law as well as Swedish," she said.
Montgomery also contested defence assertions that no violence was alleged to be involved. One woman's allegation that her clothes had been ripped off and necklace broken did constitute violence, she said.
Assange's lawyers argue that transfer to Sweden could be a stepping stone to extradition to the United States, where they say he could end up facing execution for leaking secrets.
Assange has been free under strict conditions since a British court released him on bail in December.
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