Swedish prosecutors to announce Julian Assange rape investigation decision next week

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
EPA

Swedish prosecutors are due to announce next week whether they will reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange.

The Wikileaks founder was accused of rape in 2010 but prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017.

Deputy director of public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson will hold a press conference in Stockholm on Monday to announce her decision.

Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to proceed while he remained living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Assange also faced investigation for a second sex-related allegation, which was dropped in 2015 because time had run out.

He denied both allegations.

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates Court in April
Getty Images

Assange is currently in prison in the UK after police arrested him last month outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been in hiding for seven years.

He is now wanted for questioning in the United States over the activities of WikiLeaks.

Following Assange's arrest last month, a lawyer representing one of the women involved in the Sweden rape investigation asked for the probe to be reopened.

Assange, who denies the allegations against him, fought through the British courts to get the extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped.

In April, Ecuador withdrew its grant of asylum and Assange was arrest by British police.
PA

His lawyers said he feared that should he go to Sweden, authorities could hand him over to the United States to face prosecution over the WikiLeaks' case.

In April, Ecuador withdrew its grant of asylum and Assange was arrest by British police.

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.

Additional reporting by agencies.

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