UPPSALA, June 3
A Swedish court on Monday rejected a request from prosecutors for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be detained in absentia over a 2010 rape allegation.
Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for skipping bail after spending seven years holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden. He denies the rape accusation.
Monday’s ruling means the Swedish prosecutor cannot at this stage request his extradition from Britain. The US has already requested Assange’s extradition on conspiracy charges. If Britain were to grant that request before Sweden makes its own claim, Assange will be sent to the US.
Another factor pushing the Swedish prosecutor to act quickly is that the statute of limitations on the alleged rape runs out in August 2020.
However, defence lawyer Per Samuelson argued that Assange’s imprisonment in Britain meant there was no flight risk. “He is in prison for half a year at least, and he is detained on behalf of the US. So there is no point detaining him in Sweden, too,” Samuelson said. — Reuters
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2Wp6zSX
via IFTTT https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
No comments: