Sweden ends rape investigation into Julian Assange

The Swedish Public Prosecution Service has stopped investigating the alleged rape that WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange allegedly committed in the country in 2010. The public prosecutor announced this at a press conference in Stockholm.

The Swedish Public Prosecution Service investigated whether Assange raped a Swedish woman after they met at a WikiLeaks conference in the country’s capital. Assange has always denied the allegations. According to Swedish medium The Local, the prosecutor says the alleged victim’s allegations were credible and reliable, but says the evidence has been weakened by the long time that has passed since the event.

Assange was in Ecuador’s embassy in London from 2012 to April this year, until Ecuador withdrew the asylum. He has been in British prison ever since. In May, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for violating the terms of his bail. The United States wants the United Kingdom to extradite Assange, because he allegedly helped Chelsea Manning to break into computers of the US Department of Defense. Later, 17 new charges were added. He now faces a maximum prison sentence of 175 years.

Sweden had sent an extradition request to the United Kingdom because of the rape case. Since the investigation into this has been stopped, it is likely that this request will also be withdrawn. In that case, only the extradition request from the United States remains. It is unknown whether the United Kingdom will actually extradite Assange.