Probe dropped for Assange; uncertainty ahead
STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s top prosecutor on Friday dropped an investigation into a rape claim against WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange after almost seven years, saying that is because there is no possibility of arresting him “in the foreseeable future.”
The announcement means the outspoken WikiLeaks leader no longer faces sex crime allegations in Sweden, although British police say he is still wanted for jumping bail in Britain in 2012. It does not clear Assange’s name, however, and some experts say it puts him into an even more precarious legal situation if the US has — as some suspect — a sealed indictment for his arrest.
Assange, 45, took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sex-crime allegations from two women. He has been there ever since, fearing that if he was in custody he might ultimately be extradited to the US for his role at the helm of WikiLeaks, which has enraged governments around the world by publishing tens of thou- sands of leaked classified US documents.
Per E. Samuelson, Assange’s lawyer in Sweden, told The Associated Press that it was a “day of victory” for the WikiLeaks founder. He said Assange had convinced Swedish prosecutors during a November meeting last year that he was not guilty of any sex offenses.
“The truth is, he gave a very good explanation: This was consensual sex between two adults and nothing else. And he’s a free man,” Samuelson said.
“He’s an innocent man and this case has been closed,” he said, adding that Assange was “very unhappy” about the long inquiry, which he said cost Assange “five, six years of his life.”
It is not known if US officials have asked British police to arrest Assange because of a possible sealed US indictment against him. A US Department of Justice spokesman on Friday declined to comment on the case.
British officials said they do not comment on individual cases. British Prime Minister Theresa May said “any decision that is taken about UK action in relation to him (Assange) would be an operational matter for the police.”
US President Donald Trump said last month he would support any decision by the Justice Department to charge Assange.
WikiLeaks tweeted after the Swedish announcement: “UK refuses to confirm or deny whether it has already received a US extradition warrant for Julian Assange. Focus now moves to UK.”
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Guillaume Long, tweeted Friday that Britain “must now grant safe passage” to Assange. The South American country has granted him asylum.
Lawyer David Allen Green, who has followed the case, tweeted: “Once outside embassy, Assange more at risk from any US extradition attempt than if he had gone to Sweden.”
At a press conference Friday in Stockholm, Marianne Ny, chief of the Swedish Prosecution Authority, said she “has decided to discontinue the investigation” and call back the European arrest warrant for Assange.
The allegations surfaced after two women accused Assange of sexual misconduct during a visit to Stockholm in 2010.
There were initially two separate allegations being investigated, but one was dropped in 2015 because the statute of limitations ran out. The rape allegation, the more serious claim, remained under investigation. Prosecutors were trying to determine, among other things, if Assange had sex with the woman while she was asleep and without using a condom.
Assange has said that all the sex was consensual.
Ny told reporters that prosecutors had been unable to make a full assessment of the case and were not making a finding on whether Assange was guilty or innocent of the allegations. She said the WikiLeaks founder had “tried to dodge all attempts at arrest” by British and Swedish authorities.