Sweden’s state prosecutor will announce on Monday whether she will reopen a preliminary investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange.
The WikiLeaks founder is in prison in Britain after he was arrested last month after seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The US wants to extradite him in a case relating to WikiLeaks’ massive release of sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
Sweden’s legal tussle with the Australian Assange has dragged on for nearly a decade after he was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010
The statute of limitations ran out on the sexual assault allegations in 2015 and the prosecutor dropped the investigation into the rape allegation in 2017 because Assange was in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had taken refuge to avoid extradition.
The prosecutor said at the time the investigation could be reopened if the situation changed.
After Assange’s arrest last month, the lawyer representing the woman who accused Assange of rape asked for the investigation to be reopened.
“At a press conference, the prosecutor will announce her decision, which will formally be made immediately before the press conference,” the Swedish prosecution authority said in a statement.
Assange, who denies the allegations, fought through the British courts to get the extradition order and preliminary investigation dropped. His lawyers said he feared that should he go to Sweden, authorities could hand him over to the US to face prosecution over the WikiLeaks case.
In April, Ecuador withdrew its grant of asylum and Assange was arrested. Hours later, US officials announced he had been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and requested his extradition.
Last week a British court sentenced Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail.