WikiLeaks’ Assange calls end of rape case important victory
STOCKHOLM — Sweden’s top prosecutor on Friday dropped an investigation into a rape claim against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after almost seven years, saying that’s because there’s no possibility of arresting him “in the foreseeable future.”
The announcement by prosecutor Marianne Ny means the outspoken WikiLeaks leader no longer faces sex crime allegations in Sweden, although British police said was still wanted for jumping bail in Britain in 2012.
It does not clear Assange’s name, however, and some experts say it puts him into an even more precarious legal situation if the U.S. has — as some suspect — a sealed indictment for his arrest.
Speaking from the balcony of Ecuador’s London embassy, where he took refuge in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, Assange said his seven-year legal ordeal — which he called unjust detention — “is not something that I can forgive.”