Julian Assange rape charges dropped by Swedish prosecutor after seven years

Julian Assange, just got some good news. The news was announced on Friday, after Sweden’s top prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement that she is dropping her investigation into a rape claim made against the WikiLeaks founder. Ny said there is no possibility of serving notice on Assange “in the foreseeable future," and went on to add that she will be calling back the European arrest warrant for the WikiLeaks founder.

She told reporters that he had dodged all attempts by British and Swedish authorities to arrest him. However, Ny did add that the case could possibly be reopened, should Assange return to Sweden before the expiration of the statue of limitations in 2020.

Bail jumping charge still outstanding for Julian Assange

As reported by the BBC, while this announcement means Assange no longer faces the Swedish sex crime allegations, British police reportedly still want the WikiLeaks founder for jumping bail back in 2012. The London Metropolitan Police say they are obliged to arrest Assange should he leave the safety of the embassy.

However, they did add that he is now wanted on a far less serious offense than the sex crimes allegations and their resourcing would be proportionate to that offense.

U.S. government wants Julian Assange over WikiLeaks releases

As noted by the Sacramento Bee, Assange sought asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London during 2012, over fears that if he was extradited to Sweden to face charges made by two women in that country, Sweden might then further extradite him on to the U.S. Assange is facing espionage charges over the tens of thousands of classified U.S. documents leaked by WikiLeaks, which led to outrage from the U.S. government and other government leaders worldwide.

The documents released by WikiLeaks included details of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as documents relating to diplomatic relations worldwide.

Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy to this day. Among the leaks was a controversial video, “Collateral Murder” which showed civilians being killed by the U.S. military, passed on to WikiLeaks by then Pvt. Bradley Manning. Manning has been imprisoned until recently over the leaks and now goes by the name Chelsea Manning – she was finally released from Fort Leavenworth on Wednesday this week.

‘Total victory’ for Julian Assange

Although the charge of jumping bail is still outstanding, Per E. Samuelsson, Assange’s Swedish lawyer, said on Swedish Radio that this latest news is a “total victory” for Assange, adding that they have won the case. Samuelsson added that Assange is now free to leave the Ecuadorian embassy whenever he wants.

The lawyer added that naturally Assange is relieved and happy over the news, saying that the leaker has been critical over the fact that it has taken so long to happen.

Meanwhile in the U.S., it is unknown whether officials are seeking Assange’s arrest, as the possible indictment against him is sealed. However President Donald Trump did say last month that he would be in support of any decision by the Justice Department relating to Assange. With no news available over the U.S. side of the matter, WikiLeaks headed to Twitter shortly after the announcement from Sweden to say that the U.K. government is refusing to either confirm or deny whether it has received an extradition warrant from the U.S.

for Assange. The tweet added that the focus now moves to the U.K.

For most of the time during his stay in Ecuador’s London embassy, Assange has offered to meet with Swedish authorities in that building, but initially they refused. However the Swedish prosecutors did finally meet with him at the embassy last year. In the meantime, the UN has found both the U.K. and Sweden to be in violation of international law over the detention of the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange’s stay in the embassy has cost British taxpayers a fair amount of money. London’s Metropolitan police kept a 24 hour guard outside the Ecuadorian embassy right up until December 2015, after the cost of providing that policing exceeded 11 million UK pounds (around $14 million).