Sweden decides to reopen Assange rape case

Swedish prosecutors on Monday decided to reopen rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a month after he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

The decision now leaves Britain deciding whether to extradite him to the Scandinavian country or the United States.

Swedish prosecutors filed preliminary charges — a step short of formal charges — against Assange after he visited the country in 2010.

Seven years later, a case of alleged sexual misconduct was dropped when the statute of limitations expired. That left a rape allegation, and the case was closed as it couldn't be pursued while Assange was living at the embassy and there was no prospect of bringing him to Sweden.

The statute of limitations on that case expires in August 2020.

TRT World's Sarah Morice brings more from London.

'A chance to clear his name'

The reopening of the investigation will give Assange a chance to clear his name, WikiLeaks said.

"Since Julian Assange was arrested on 11 April 2019, there has been considerable political pressure on Sweden to reopen their investigation, but there has always been political pressure surrounding this case," Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief said in a statement.

"Its reopening will give Julian a chance to clear his name," Hrafnsson said.

The case was opened following complaints from two Swedish women who said they were the victims of sex crimes committed by Assange. He has denied the allegations, asserting that they were politically motivated and that the sex was consensual.

The 47-year-old Australian met the women in connection with a lecture in August 2010 in Stockholm. 

One was involved in organizing an event for Sweden's center-left Social Democratic Party and offered to host Assange at her apartment. The other was in the audience.

Victims of sex crime

A police officer who heard the women's accounts decided there was a reason to suspect they were victims of sex crimes and handed the case to a prosecutor.

Neither of the alleged victims has been named publicly.

Assange left Sweden for Britain in September 2010. In November that year, a Stockholm court approved a request to detain Assange for questioning.

The Australian secret-spiller took refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.

He was arrested by British police on April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

Currently, Assange is in London's Belmarsh Prison serving a 50-week sentence for jumping bail in 2012. He is also being held on a US extradition warrant for allegedly hacking into a Pentagon computer.

If there are competing extradition requests from Sweden and the United States, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid would be expected to have the final say in which claim takes priority.