Julian Assange Close To Freedom (picture)

Today marks the 1,000th day WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has spent in political asylum inside Ecuador’s London embassy. For the first time, Swedish prosecutors have opened the door to Assange’s departure with a request to question him in London. Assange has never been charged over allegations of sexual assault, but has been holed up in the embassy since 2012, fearing a Swedish arrest warrant could lead to his extradition to the United States. We speak with Assange attorney, Michael Ratner, who says an interview with the prosecutor may result in no charges, and even if Assange were convicted of these allegations, “he has done all the time he would have to do… so the whole case is essentially a bogus way of keeping him in that embassy.”

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: Today marks the 1,000th day that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has spent in Ecuador’s London embassy, where he has political asylum. Now, for the first time, Swedish prosecutors have issued a request to question Assange in London. This follows pressure from their own courts, from Swedish courts, and repeated requests by Assange’s lawyers. Assange has never been charged over allegations of sexual assault, yet he has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, fearing that if he steps outside, he would be arrested and extradited to Sweden, which could lead to his extradition to the United States. His lawyers have been asking Swedish prosecutors to question him in London for over four years. On Friday, Assange’s attorney in Stockholm, Sweden, Per Samuelson, welcomed the news.

PER SAMUELSON: A bottom line is, after the autumn of 2010, the prosecutor did nothing for more than four years. That’s clear breach of Swedish law. That has hurt Mr. Assange severely. And it has also hurt both the women, who have not had their case tried for over four years. And it hurts the court, because witnesses forget. Time passes on, and all the evidence is much worse now than it was back in 2010. morehere