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Swedish Foreign Ministry confirms UN panel’s positive decision on Assange

According to the media, the UN panel concluded that the UK and Swedish authorities had arbitrarily detained WikiLeaks founder and he could leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London

STOCKHOLM, February 4. /TASS/. The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday a UN panel’s conclusion on the arbitrary detention of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"On the part of the Foreign Ministry and the government, we can note that the UN working group has come to a different conclusion that the Swedish Justice Ministry. Legal processes are conducted by the prosecutor’s office and the court and we can’t comment on them," a Sweden’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson told TASS.

UN gives no comment on media reports about expert conclusions on WikiLeaks founder case

A United Nations panel on arbitrary detention cannot comment on media reports about the conclusions on the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, press officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Xavier Celaya told TASS on Thursday.

Such comments can be made only after the release of the UN panel’s report scheduled for 11:00 Geneva time on Friday, the press officer said.

"Tomorrow morning the Working group on arbitrary detention will issue the final legal opinion on the case. We heard about the information [published] in London. We don’t know where the information came from. We say we cannot comment on that because this is not the Working group’s official opinion," Celaya said.

"So we will issue at 11 Geneva time a press release with a link to the final legal document. Before that nobody can comment on that case. So whatever is in the report in London we cannot certify or verify," he added.

As the British media reported earlier, the UN working group concluded that the UK and Swedish authorities had arbitrarily detained WikiLeaks founder Assange and, therefore, he could leave the Ecuadorian embassy in Great Britain where he had been hiding for several years to avoid his extradition to Sweden over rape and sexual assault allegations.

WikiLeaks founder Assange requested asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19, 2012.

Assange has rejected all the accusations, calling them politically motivated. He insists that the UK’s attempt to extradite him to Sweden to face questioning on rape charges conceals plans to further extradite him to the United States to face potential prosecution over WikiLeaks revelations.

The Ecuadorian government granted Assange political asylum in August 2012 but he can’t go to the Latin American country as UK police are constantly on duty near the Ecuadorian embassy in London ready to arrest him, if tries to leave the building.

Assange insists that the UK’s attempt to extradite him to Sweden to face questioning on rape charges conceals plans to further extradite him to the United States to face potential prosecution over WikiLeaks revelations.