ADVERTISEMENTOn Wednesday a Swedish court upheld an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent two years at Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault.
Stockholm district court upholds arrest warrant for Julian Assange, ruling just in.
— Sven Grundberg (@svengrundberg) 16 Juillet 2014
Stockholm court says Assange is still suspected for rape and molestation.
— Sven Grundberg (@svengrundberg) 16 Juillet 2014
#Assange is still suspected, with probable cause, of sex crimes. His detention order remains in place says judge Lena Egelin #Assange
— Per Nyberg (@per_nyberg) 16 Juillet 2014
This means the Swedish detention order stays put #Assange
— Per Nyberg (@per_nyberg) 16 Juillet 2014
According to the Wall Street Journal’s Sven Grundberg on Twitter: “Julian Assange’s Swedish lawyer says he will appeal the court ruling to uphold the arrest warrant to the appellate court.”
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over the allegations made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers. Assange denies the allegations and has been fighting a legal battle against extradition since his arrest in Britain in December 2010.
Having exhausted all legal options in British courts, in June 2012 Assange sought refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in Britain to avoid being extradited to Sweden.
He has said he fears that being sent to Sweden would be a pretext for transferring him to the United States, where WikiLeaks has sparked an uproar with its publication of thousands of secret documents.
(With agencies)