Swedish prosecutor to rule on Julian Assange rape probe on Monday
Charges dropped in 2017 while Wikileaks founder was taking refuge in Ecuadorian embassy could be reopened
Stockholm — Sweden’s state prosecutor will announce on Monday whether she will reopen a preliminary investigation into a rape allegation against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange is in prison in Britain after his seven years in hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London ended in April when police arrested him. The US wants to extradite him in a case relating to Wikileaks’ huge release of sensitive military and diplomatic documents. Sweden’s legal tussle with the Australian Assange has dragged on for nearly a decade after he was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. The statute of limitations ran out on the sexual assault allegations in 2015 and the prosecutor dropped the investigation into the rape allegation in 2017 because Assange was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had taken refuge to avoid extradition. The prosecutor said at the time that the investigation could be reopened if the situation changed. After Assange’s arrest, ...
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