2011-04-26 Julian Assange says Rudolf Elmer is being held hostage for Swiss banking data

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Julian Assange told the Times of India Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, that the Swiss banking data that was handed to him on January 17 of this year has not been released because the source, Rudolf Elmer, gave the data to Assange publically and was immediately arrested pending a criminal investigation. Assange told Goswami, "We have had an indirect offer through a third party that if we return what they believe to be the data then they will work to acquit Mr. Elmer to be free. So my ability to talk about this subject is of course limited by the fact that the Swiss bank has a hostage."

Assange also stated that India seems like it is losing per capita much more tax money than Germany.

Time to expose Switzerland's shameful behaviour!

The treatment of Rudolf Elmer is certainly an area that needs to be exposed; likely not torture but highly suspect. Pressure needs to be brought to bear. When Glenn Greenwald took up the issue of Bradley Manning, the world took note. Can the same be done for Rudolph Elmer?

As you highlight, Julian Assange's comments on Rudolf Elmer, from his interview with N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of “The Hindu” suggest that the Swiss Banking material is locked up because of a desire to protect Elmer.

See here, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article1688846.ece where the question is asked, "You are working on the Rudolf Elmer material. What’s the state of play there?", to which Assange says, "The state of play there is Rudolf Elmer has been put in prison and he has been there for some eight, ten weeks now. But he’s not been charged with anything; there’s no evidence against him. He is in a position where he has severely embarrassed the Swiss state, which gains nearly 50 per cent of its GDP from Swiss banking — and Switzerland holds nearly one-third of all the world’s private wealth. So we of course are not in a position to be able to talk about the material in any direct way that he is alleged to have given us."

Behind every corrupt act one can invariably find a financial incentive.

It is time to shine a light on the Banking Sector.

It is time to expose Switzerland's shameful behaviour!

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