Lawyers doubt Julian Assange will ever stand trial in Sweden
Swedish lawyers have said they doubt Julian Assange will ever stand trial in Sweden even if prosecutors decide to reopen an investigation into a rape accusation.The WikiLeaks founder was arrested in London on Thursday after being dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had stayed since 2012 in order to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has always denied.“I think it would be a very uphill task to reopen the investigation in Sweden,” Sven-Erik Alhem, a former prosecutor, told the Swedish news agency TT. “Testimony usually weakens with time, and it’s now been 10 years.”In addition, Alhem said, Assange was “not about to volunteer to come to Sweden, and a new international arrest warrant for him would of course have to be issued for him here. In all, it seems a very steep hill to climb.”Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per E Samuelson, told Swedish media he would be “tremendously surprised” to find himself ever defending his client in a Swedish court. “I think this is highly unlikely,” he said. “It’s not going to happen. Julian Assange cannot be extradited to Sweden when the European arrest warrant against him was withdrawn as early as May 2017. As the US has now submitted an extradition application, the Americans have preferential rights under international rules.”The Swedish prosecution service is considering whether to reopen the investigation, which was shelved in 2017 because Assange could not be reached. The lawyer of the Swedish woman who accused Assange of rape in 2010 said she and her client would do “everything we can” to get the case reopened.
