STOCKHOLM - A Swedish prosecutor dropped a
rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange,
ending the near decade-old case that had sent the anti-secrecy
campaigner into hiding in London's Ecuadorian embassy to avoid
extradition.
Although the prosecutor's decision can be appealed, it
probably closes the case, which was launched in 2010. The
accuser's lawyer said she was studying whether to appeal it.
Assange skipped bail in Britain to avoid possible
extradition and took refuge in the embassy in 2012. He was
dragged out by police in April this year, and is now in jail
fighting extradition to the United States on computer hacking
and espionage charges unveiled after he left the embassy.
While Assange was in the embassy, the statute of limitations
ran out on investigating all but one of several Swedish sex
crime complaints originally filed by two women.
Deputy Chief
Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson reopened the remaining case after
Assange left the embassy, but she said on Tuesday the passage of
time meant there was not enough evidence to indict Assange.
"After conducting a comprehensive assessment of what has
emerged during the course of the preliminary investigation I
then make the assessment that the evidence is not strong enough
to form the basis for filing an indictment," she told a news
conference. "Nine years have passed. Time is a player in this
decision."
Assange, a 48-year-old Australian, has repeatedly denied the
sex crime allegations, calling them part of a plot to discredit
him and secure his eventual transfer to the United States.
"Let us now focus on the threat Mr Assange has been warning
about for years: the belligerent prosecution of the United
States and the threat it poses to the First Amendment,"
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, said in a
statement.
Assange's Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, said as far as he
was aware British lawyers had not yet been able to contact
Assange in jail to inform him of the Swedish decision.
"This is the end of Assange's association with the Swedish
justice system," Samuelson said. "But he is not happy with the
way he's been treated. He lost faith in the Swedish justice
system years ago."
Elisabet Massi Fritz, lawyer for the accuser, told Reuters
in a text message that she and her client would discuss whether
to request a review of the decision to drop the case. The right
decision would have been to interrogate Assange in London and
then charge him with rape, she said.
"After today's decision my client needs time to process
everything that has happened over these nine years in order to
be able to move on with her life."
U.S. ANGER
The Australian-born Assange made global headlines in early
2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video
showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that
killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
WikiLeaks later angered the United States by publishing
caches of leaked military documents and diplomatic cables.
In 2016 it played a role in the U.S. presidential campaign,
releasing documents from hacked emails of Democratic Party
officials. U.S. investigators determined those emails were
originally obtained by Russian hackers as part of an effort by
Moscow to help elect President Donald Trump.
Admirers have hailed Assange as a hero for exposing what
they describe as abuse of power by modern states and for
championing free speech. Critics say he is a dangerous figure
complicit in Russian efforts to undermine the West.
Even some critics of Assange say the U.S. charges against
him could be troubling, since they treat publication of secrets
as a crime, activity that advocates of press freedom say is
essential for journalism.
The case had divided opinion in Sweden, a country with
strong traditions of support for both women's rights and media
freedom. Prosecutors were criticised for letting the case drag
on, while many blamed Assange for obstructing the investigation.
The decision by the Swedish prosecutor heads off a potential
dilemma for the British courts which might otherwise have had to
decide between competing U.S. and Swedish extradition requests.
Since leaving the embassy, Assange has served a British
sentence for skipping bail. He is now being held pending his
next hearing in February on the U.S. extradition request. He
faces 18 criminal counts including conspiring to hack government
computers and violating an espionage law.