WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced questioning on
Monday by prosecutors at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been
holed up for four years, over allegations he committed rape in 2010.
Swedish Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren arrived at the
embassy to pose questions to Assange through an Ecuadorian prosecutor over the
allegations which Assange has denied, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.
Assange, who enraged the United States by publishing
hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, took refuge in the
embassy in August 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden over the rape
allegation.
The 45-year-old Australian has refused to go to Sweden
for questioning, saying he fears further extradition to the United States,
where a criminal investigation into the publication of secret documents by
WikiLeaks is ongoing.
In 2010, WikiLeaks published thousands of classified
U.S. military and diplomatic documents in one of the largest information leaks
in U.S. history.
Isgren and a police investigator will be able to ask
questions through the Ecuadorian prosecutor, who will later report the findings
to Sweden, prosecutors have said.
"After the report, the Swedish prosecutor will
take a view on the continuing of the investigation," they said.
A Swedish appeals court decided in September to uphold
Assange's arrest warrant, saying a strong public interest argument outweighed a
case to set it aside based on the lengthy deadlock and a previous lack of
impetus in pursuing the case.
Assange's request to have the warrant overturned came
after a U.N. panel in February said his stay at the Ecuadorean embassy equaled
arbitrary detention, that he should be let go and be awarded compensation.
Even if Sweden drops the investigation, however,
Assange could be arrested for breaching bail conditions in Britain.
(Reporting by Peter Nicholls and Paul Sandle; editing
by Guy Faulconbridge)
No comments:
Post a Comment