US, Sweden vie for Julian

Brits to pick who’s 1st

British authorities will decide whether the United States or Sweden gets first crack at prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, officials said.

Sweden wants to try Assange (inset) for an alleged 2010 rape, while the US hopes to haul him into court for allegedly conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.

Assange, 47, was collared by British police April 11 after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been living under political asylum since 2012.

Sweden is seeking a European Arrest Warrant for his transfer to there, while Assange faces a US extradition warrant for the hacking charges.

Now the Brits, who are holding Assange for 50 weeks for jumping bail in 2012, will determine whether he first stands trial in Sweden or the US, according to Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions.

“In the event of a conflict between a European Arrest Warrant and a request for extradition from the US, UK authorities will decide on the order of priority. The outcome of this process is impossible to predict,” she said according to Agence France-Presse.

“However, in my view, the Swedish case can proceed concurrently with the proceedings in the UK.”

Swedish prosecutors issued a formal detention order Monday against the WikiLeaks founder, and Persson said she had filed the request with the Uppsala District Court to have Assange detained in absentia.

She added that once the court had granted the request, which comes after the reopening of a 2010 rape probe, she would ask British authorities to transfer the Australian whistleblower to Sweden.

Swedish authorities previously had to shelve the rape case because Assange was at the embassy at the time and there was no prospect of dragging him to Sweden.

Assange, who has denied any wrongdoing in the rape case, faces a maximum of four years in a Swedish prison if he is convicted.