text: Trending Omicron Variant COVID-19 Booster Shots in CT NBC CT's The Connection Today’s Forecast NBC LX Connecting You to Joy CT Live Face the Facts
  Expand
  Sweden Drops Assange Rape Investigation After 9 Years	
  Assange has been battling potential charges in Sweden since August 2010, when an investigation began after two women accused Assange of sexual offenses during a visit to Stockholm	
  By David Keyton	• Published November 19, 2019 • Updated on November 19, 2019 at 11:00 am
  Sweden on Tuesday dropped its investigation into an alleged rape by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently in prison in Britain, because too much time has elapsed since the accusation was made over nine years ago.
  Assange, who is battling an extradition attempt by the U.S. so he can face spying charges related to his WikiLeaks work, has always denied the allegations made against him during a visit to Stockholm in August 2010.
  "Nine years have gone," Swedish prosecutor Eve-Marie Persson said. "Time is a player in this. The oral evidence has weakened as time has passed."
  Though the victim "submitted a credible and reliable version of events," Persson said "the memory fades for natural reasons."
  Still, Persson said her statements "have been coherent, extensive and detailed."
  Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer for the rape victim — a Swedish woman who was never identified — told Swedish broadcaster SVT that "the plaintiff's information is supported by heavy written evidence plus verbal evidence in the form of doctors who examined the plaintiff."
  "To me that would be sufficient," she said.
  "However, the current prosecutor has done a thorough and solid job and she should be commended for that," Massi Fritz wrote according to Swedish news agency TT.
  The decision follows a ruling in June by a Swedish court that Assange should not be detained. Two months earlier, Assange was evicted from the Ecuador Embassy in London where he had been holed up for nearly seven years. He was immediately arrested and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.
  U.S. & World
  coronavirus vaccine 4 hours ago	
  ‘The Virus Is a Ruthless Opportunist': Global Vaccine Inequality Linked to Omicron	
  Barbados 9 hours ago	
  Barbados Bids Farewell to British Monarchy, Becomes Republic	
  Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, said in a tweet that the focus should now move to the "threat" that Assange has been "warning about for years: the belligerent prosecution of the United States and the threat it poses to the First Amendment."
  Swedish authorities have been investigating Assange since August 2010, when two women accused him of sexual offenses. Sweden then asked Britain to extradite Assange for questioning, and in June 2012 he sought refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid arrest. That request was granted two months later.
  After that, the investigation stalled. Swedish prosecutors dropped the case of alleged sexual misconduct when the statute of limitations ran out in 2015, leaving only the rape allegation.
  While denying the allegations in Sweden, he sought asylum for protection from possible extradition to the U.S. on charges.
  Ecuador withdrew Assange's asylum status in April and Assange was arrested by British police. He was sentenced in May to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012. He remains in prison after authorities ruled he was a flight risk and faces an extradition hearing next year to the U.S. to face spying charges.
  There, the Australian faces an 18-count indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia that accuses him of soliciting and publishing classified information and with conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a Defense Department computer password.
  Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.
  Copyright A
  Weather Forecast
  Facebook
  Twitter
  Instagram
  Submit Tips for Investigations
  Newsletters
  Contact Us
  WVIT Public Inspection File
  FCC Applications
  Privacy Policy
  Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  WVIT Employment Information
  Terms of Service
  Advertise with us
  Send Feedback
  CA Notice
  AdChoices
  Copyright © 2021 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All rights reserved	
  Back to Article
  Close Menu
  Search for:
  Top Video	Submit Photos and Videos	Local	U.S. & World	Weather	Weather Alerts	School Closings	Sign Up For School Closing Text Alerts	NBCLX	Money Report	Investigations	Connecticut In Color	Entertainment	CT Live	Kids Connection	Sports	Dog House	Community	Traffic	Connect To Healthier