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Sweden was pressured into reopening case against Assange — WikiLeaks

Earlier on Monday, the Swedish prosecution has made the decision to reopen the case against Assange on counts of rape

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The political pressure that had been put on Sweden prompted the reopening of the investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on counts of rape and sexual harassment, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief, Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson said on Monday.

"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," the official WikiLeaks Twitter account quotes him as saying.

In 2006, Assange founded WikiLeaks portal to publish classified information about the activities of a number of governments, including that of the United States. Fearing extradition to the US from Sweden, where two women accused him of sexual harassment and rape, he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he spent almost seven years.

In April, Ecuador refused him further asylum, the police promptly arrested Assange. On May 1, the London court sentenced the WikiLeaks founder to 50 weeks of jail for breaching the bail conditions.

Earlier on Monday, the Swedish prosecution has made the decision to reopen the case against Assange on counts of rape and sexual harassment.