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Sweden drops rape investigation into WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange
founder Julian Assange
Swedish prosecutors have dropped a preliminary rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority said the corroborating evidence had weakened considerably "due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question".
The investigation was first opened after the alleged incident in August 2010 but closed in 2017, before being reopened earlier this year when Assange was arrested after being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
While Assange was in the embassy, the statute of limitations ran out on investigating all but one of several Swedish sex crime complaints originally filed by two women.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson reopened the remaining case after Assange left the embassy, but she said during a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday the passage of time meant there was not enough evidence to indict Assange.
"After conducting a comprehensive assessment of what has emerged during the course of the preliminary investigation I then make the assessment that the evidence is not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment," she said.
"Nine years have passed.
"Time is a player in this decision."
Assange had repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them part of a plot to discredit him and secure his eventual transfer to the United States.
He is being held in a British jail pending a hearing in February on extradition to the United States, which wants the 48-year-old Australian over 18 criminal counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.
He was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April this year after spending almost seven years holed up there to avoid extradition on the Swedish allegations.
Since then, he has served a British jail sentence for skipping bail.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority said the corroborating evidence had weakened considerably "due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question".
The investigation was first opened after the alleged incident in August 2010 but closed in 2017, before being reopened earlier this year when Assange was arrested after being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
While Assange was in the embassy, the statute of limitations ran out on investigating all but one of several Swedish sex crime complaints originally filed by two women.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson reopened the remaining case after Assange left the embassy, but she said during a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday the passage of time meant there was not enough evidence to indict Assange.
"After conducting a comprehensive assessment of what has emerged during the course of the preliminary investigation I then make the assessment that the evidence is not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment," she said.
"Nine years have passed.
"Time is a player in this decision."
Assange had repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them part of a plot to discredit him and secure his eventual transfer to the United States.
He is being held in a British jail pending a hearing in February on extradition to the United States, which wants the 48-year-old Australian over 18 criminal counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.
He was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April this year after spending almost seven years holed up there to avoid extradition on the Swedish allegations.
Since then, he has served a British jail sentence for skipping bail.