Swedish prosecutors have reopened an investigation into a rape allegation made against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange.<\/p>\n
The inquiry has been revived at the request of the alleged victim’s lawyer.<\/p>\n
Assange, who denies the charges, has avoided extradition to Sweden for seven years after seeking refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012.<\/p>\n
The 47-year-old was evicted last month and sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.<\/p>\n
He is currently being held at Belmarsh prison in London.<\/p>\n
Swedish prosecutors originally decided to drop the rape investigation two years ago, saying they felt unable to take the case forward while Assange remained inside the Ecuadorean embassy.<\/p>\n
“I have today decided to reopen the investigation,” Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, Eva-Marie Persson, announced on Monday. “There is still probable cause to suspect that Mr Assange committed rape.”<\/p>\n
His release, and the decision to reopen the inquiry, is likely to raise the question of which extradition request should take precedence: that of Sweden or the US.<\/p>\n
The US wants to extradite Assange from the UK over his alleged role in the release of classified military and diplomatic material in 2010.<\/p>\n
Australian-born Assange faces\u00a0a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in the US<\/a>. He is accused of participating in one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets, which could result in a prison term of up to five years.<\/p>\n In a statement, Wikileaks said the reopening of the case would “give [Assange] a chance to clear his name”.<\/p>\n “There has been considerable political pressure on Sweden to reopen their investigation, but there has always been political pressure surrounding this case,” its editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Assange was accused of rape and other sexual offences against two women following a Wikileaks conference in Stockholm in 2010. He has always denied the allegations, saying the sex was consensual.<\/p>\n He also faced investigations for molestation and unlawful coercion, but these cases were dropped in 2015 because time had run out.<\/p>\n Prosecutors have decided to reopen the rape case before the statute of limitations expires in August 2020.<\/p>\n On Saturday,\u00a0the alleged victim’s lawyer, Elizabeth Massi Fritz, said Assange’s arrest came as a shock<\/a>\u00a0but “what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened”.<\/p>\n She said: “No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served.”<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is the Swedish investigation about?<\/h2>\n