News / EU

Swedish prosecutors ‘not ready to decide on Assange’

Wednesday, 15 March 2017 10:51 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 15 March 2017 11:03 AM ]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, February 5, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Swedish prosecutors say they are not ready to continue a preliminary investigation into the allegations of rape and sexual assault against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The 45-year-old Australian founder of the website has been wanted by Swedish authorities for questioning over allegations of rape.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement on Wednesday that they were waiting for the translation of some parts of a report into the allegations filed by two women in Sweden back in 2010.

“The prosecutors are still waiting for the translation of some minor parts of the report. These are expected to be completed shortly,” the statement said. “The prosecutors will now analyze the report and will thereafter decide what further investigative measures may be taken.”

Prosecutors had been expected to announce whether they would proceed with the investigation this week.

Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s Embassy in the British capital of London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden after Swedish prosecutors issued a European arrest warrant against him. Assange has denied the rape accusations, and says the claims are part of an attempt to ultimately have him extradited to the United States, where he could be charged over WikiLeaks’ release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In February last year, a United Nations panel — the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — ruled that Assange’s confinement to the embassy “should be brought to an end” and he should be compensated for his “deprivation of liberty” over the years.

Sweden, however, rejected the UN panel’s ruling, saying the panel did not have the right to interfere in the case handled by a Swedish public authority.

In September 2016, a Swedish appeals court also decided to uphold the arrest warrant against Assange over the sexual abuse allegations.

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