MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: Sweden’s prosecution authority plans to request the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Great Britain in relation to the 2010 sexual assault and rape case, Reuters reported on Monday, citing Sweden's state prosecutor.
According to the news agency, British investigators are expected to make a decision on Assange’s extradition. Reuters said they planned to summon the WikiLeaks founder once again for questioning.
The Swedish prosecution authority earlier decided to revisit the sexual assault investigation into Assange.
Wikileaks founder
Assange founded the WikiLeaks portal in 2006 to publish classified information about the activities of a number of governments, including that of the United States. After harassment charges had been brought against him in Sweden in 2012, Assange sought refuge in London's Ecuadorian Embassy to escape extradition. The rape case was dropped in 2017 but the United Kingdom continued to insist that Assange be arrested over his failure to appear in court in London.
Assange was eventually arrested by the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police on April 11 after Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno had announced the withdrawal of his asylum. His lawyers say that if extradited to the United States, Assange may face a 35-year prison term or capital punishment. The US Department of Justice said, though, that Assange might get a five-year prison term at most for computer hacking.
On May 1, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his British bail conditions.
