Swedish Court Rejects Request To Detain WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Over 2010 Rape Case

A Swedish court on Monday (3 June) rejected a request to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in absentia in a suspected 2010 rape case.

According to a BBC report, the prosecutors said Assange had not co-operated with their investigation into a 2010 allegation of rape against the Wikileaks founder, and so should be remotely held for questioning.

However, the court rejected prosecutors’ request that WikiLeaks founder be detained in absentia, as he is already detained in the United Kingdom.

The Swedish law allows the prosecution to issue a European Arrest Warrant and bring a person, who is either abroad or in hiding, to Sweden under an ordinary procedure of detention in absentia.

The WikiLeaks founder had sought asylum in London’s Ecuadorean embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over rape allegation, but was evicted from there on 11 April this year and was detained by the police.

Sweden had reopened an investigation into the rape allegation against Assange in May, a month after he was arrested and removed from the Embassy.

Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012. He is also fighting extradition to the US, where he is accused of publishing secret documents.