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Time Runs Out On Sweden's Sexual Assault Charges Against Julian Assange

Posted by timothy on from the your-polonium-umbrella-sir dept.

As the Guardian and many other sources report, the clock has run out on the three 2010 charges of sexual assault on which Swedish authorities had hoped try Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange has been waiting out those charges since 2012 in London, inside the Ecuadorian embassy, claiming that he feared extradition to the U.S. in connection to this Wikileaks work if he were first extradicted to Sweden. He was recently rebuffed after suggesting that he'd be interested in living in France as a political refugee. The linked Guardian story notes that the expiry of the Swedish prosecutors' time doesn't mean that Assange is no longer under scrutiny, as does CNN.

3 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What a scumbag by gerddie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Well, he is pinned down in the embassy, and they could have questioned him there:

    Swedish prosecutors have interviewed 44 suspects in the UK since 2010, while for five years declining Julian Assange’s offer to be interviewed at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London.

    Meanwhile the UK already spent ~12M pound to make sure he doesn't leave the embassy. If these rape allegations where the only reason for this theatre then the British police would have told the Swedish prosecutor that they will make sure Assange stays put for two or three month in the Embassy to give them the opportunity to interview him, and then they would have stopped this wast of public money.

  2. It's okay, they're still looking into rape charges by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    An additional alleged incident of sexual molestation will be "time barred" - that is, time will have run out to question Mr Assange - on 18 August.

    The Swedish statement also said an allegation of rape was due to expire on 17 August 2020, but that investigation would continue.

    So those lucky Ecuadorian diplomats might have the pleasure of his company for another five years.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Re:Yawn... by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 4, Interesting

    3) Sweden was so mad at the US extradition program ignoring their ban on use of their airspace for extradition flights that they caused a diplomatic rift with the US in 2006 by disguising their special forces soldiers as airport workers to sneak aboard a suspected extradition plane. And how do we know about this event? Why, Wikileaks of course!

    On one hand they are mad, on the other hand it continues to happen. It is very unlikely that it happens without high level consent from the swedes. This being a major problem.

    Also both the women are now uncooperative, one of them has even fled to Australia.

    I am not supporter of Assange, and consider him a megalomaniac, but his concerns are quite valid.