Swedish prosecutors will announce next week whether they will re-open case against Julian Assange 

Swedish prosecutors will announce next week whether they will re-open rape case against WIkiLeaks founder Julian Assange

  • Prosecutors will say next week if they will re-open case against Julian Assange 
  • WikiLeaks founder faced rape allegation, which was then dropped in 2017 
  • Prosecutors could not proceed while he was in London’s Ecuadorean embassy 
  • Swedish deputy director of public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson will hold a press conference in Stockholm on Monday to announce her decision 
  • Julian Assange, now in Belmarsh, denied the allegations made against him 

Swedish prosecutors will announce next week whether they will reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange. 

Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to proceed while the WikiLeaks founder remained living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Assange also faced investigation for a second sex-related allegation, which was dropped in 2015 because time had run out. He denied both allegations.

Swedish prosecutors will announce next week whether they will reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange – an allegation he denies (pictured: Assange on April 11)

After he was dragged out of the embassy last month, a lawyer for one of the women involved asked for the investigation to be resumed.

The alleged victim’s lawyer, Elisabeth Massi Fritz, has said her client was waiting for his eviction from the embassy, where he had been holed-up for seven years.

She had said in a press statement: ‘What we have been waiting for and hoping for almost seven years now, of course, comes as a shock to my client.

‘We will do everything we can to ensure that the prosecutors resume the Swedish preliminary investigation so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape.’

Julian Assange's rape accuser

The alleged sexual assault victim of Julian Assange

The lawyer acting for the woman accusing the WikiLeaks founder of rape (left) has been pushing to reopen the case with Swedish prosecutors. The allegations by the woman who said she was sexually assaulted (right) by Assange were dropped in 2017

Julian Assange pictured as he is led out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in handcuffs following his arrest by British police last month

Julian Assange pictured as he is led out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in handcuffs following his arrest by British police last month

A year into his time at the embassy, Assange told journalists he would not leave even if the sex charges against him were dropped, due to fears he would be extradited to the US for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks.

Deputy director of public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson will hold a press conference in Stockholm on Monday to announce her decision.

A United Nations official visited Assange on Thursday to assess his treatment in the high security prison where he is being held after being sentenced to 50 weeks for a bail violation.

Pamela Anderson visits WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, May 7

Pamela Anderson visits WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, May 7

Professor Nils Melzer, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture, went to Belmarsh prison in south London, and will have meetings on Friday with relevant authorities.

UN human rights experts have already voiced concern about the ‘disproportionate’ sentence given to Assange, as well as his detention in the high-security prison.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said it was ‘deeply concerned’ about the ‘disproportionate’ sentence imposed on Assange for a bail violation.

He is now wanted for questioning in the United States over the activities of WikiLeaks. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk