Sweden's
court of appeals on Friday rejected a plea from WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange to drop an arrest warrant against him as a suspect in an
alleged rape in 2010.
 Doug Stanglin, USATODAY Assange, a 45-year-old Australian, had made the appeal from his refuge at the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he sought and received political asylum four years ago to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden. Assange, who denies the rape allegations, fled to the embassy out of fear that his detention could trigger extradition to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the Afghan and Iraq wars. The Swedish appeals court, however, refused to lift the detention order because of the risk that Assange would "abscond or otherwise evade prosecution or punishment," according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Assange's legal team issued a statement on Twitter saying he was "disappointed" with the ruling and will appeal it. "Sadly, Sweden has a long history of compromising its rule of law where the perceived interests of the United States are concerned," the statement said. Swedish prosecutors say they are not in contact with counterparts in the U.S. and, in any case, would need Britain’s permission if a third country sought his extradition. In upholding a lower court ruling, the appeals court said Swedish prosecutors are actively trying to move the rape investigation forward. Assange will be questioned by an Ecuadoran prosecutor on Oct. 17. The Swedish appeals court also rejected the finding in February of a U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Assange is being "arbitrarily detained." The high court found that his four-year stay at the embassy “is not to be regarded as an unlawful deprivation of liberty.” The investigation in Sweden involves a brief encounter between Assange and two women during a visit to Sweden six years ago. Sweden dropped allegations of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion last year after the statute of limitations expired. The rape allegation involving one of the women still stands, but will expire in four years if there is no indictment. Marianne Ny, the top prosecutor in the case, welcomed the court’s decision and said the interrogation with Assange would go ahead as planned, the Associated Press reported. “I have handled many rape and sex crimes cases,” she told the news agency. “I have never experienced before that someone sought shelter at an embassy. So this situation is really unusual.” On Thursday, WikiLeaks released medical records claiming that Assange's mental health was threatened by his continued confinement at the embassy. It said that his "mental health is highly likely to deteriorate over time if he remains in his current situation." "Such highly stressful circumstances, with no end in sight, can lead to unpredictable and sometimes very destructive consequences for individuals," the records said, warning that it could turn "life-threatening" if current conditions persist. |
Friday, September 16, 2016
Swedish court upholds arrest order for Julian Assange
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