In the first signs of movement following years of legal limbo involving the exiled Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose releases of hacked DNC and Podesta emails over the past few months have had a dramatic impact on the US political system, Swedish Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren arrived at Ecuador’s London embassy to question Assange, following a prolonged deadlock in an alleged rape case opened in Sweden more than six years ago.
As CNN reports, Assange gave a statement in the presence of a Swedish prosecutor regarding allegations he sexually assaulted two women in the country six years ago, WikiLeaks tweeted Monday. The questioning took place in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the 45-year-old Australian has been residing since claiming political asylum back in 2012, when Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for him.
An Ecuadorean prosecutor is interviewing Assange, asking questions the Swedish side had submitted previously. The interview is attended by Sweden’s chief prosecutor Ingred Isgren.
Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren arrives at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
Swedish police inspector Cecilia Redell is also reportedly to be present. Both are allowed to ask for clarifications to Assange’s responses, but not put any fresh questions forward.
“After UN & court findings condemning 6 years of abuses by Sweden against Assange, Sweden finally takes his statement for the first time ever,” the official WikiLeaks account tweeted.
After UN & court findings condemning 6 years of abuses by Sweden against Assange, Sweden finally takes his statement for the first time ever
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 14, 2016
Assange’s answers will be transcribed and sent to the Swedish authorities for processing. If he consents to it, a DNA sample will also be taken from him.
According to RT, Assange’s lawyer Per Samuelsson said the questioning could last for several days, adding that it was too early to say what the meeting will bring about and what information revealed by Assange would be made public, AFP reported.
Ecuador’s foreign minister Guillaume Long told the Press Association that he was “pleased” with the perspective of the interview at last. “This is something that Ecuador has been inviting the Swedish prosecutors to do ever since we granted asylum to Mr. Assange in 2012.
“What we have asked from Sweden and the UK are guarantees that Mr. Assange will not be extradited to a third country where he could be persecuted for his work as a journalist,” Long said.
As a reminder, Swedish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Assange in August 2010, based on allegations of sexual assault by two female WikiLeaks volunteers in Sweden, and have sought his extradition for years. Assange has been sought for questioning on allegations of four counts of sexual misconduct, which he repeatedly denied and three of which have now expired under Sweden’s Statute of Limitations. Technically free to leave the embassy, the WikiLeaks founder, however, decided to stay, repeatedly raising concerns over Swedish demands that he be questioned in person, as he feared the prosecutors in fact want to extradite him to the United States.
In the US, Assange faces questioning and potentially charges over his whistleblowing activities, as the FBI is investigating him for ‘espionage.’ The investigation revolves around the Iraq War leaks, sent to WikiLeaks by former US Army Private Chelsea Manning. She is currently serving a 35-year jail sentence for the leaks. With current US President Barack Obama reluctant to clear Assange, his supporters have turned to President-elect Donald Trump with a petition requesting him to pardon the whistleblowers.
Political activist Clark Stoeckly recently told RT it would be wise for the incoming president to let Assange off the hook as it would draw liberals to Trump’s side.
“Julian is due to have some freedom so that he can continue to do the work he sought to do. If Obama doesn’t make the decision to pardon Manning, Assange, and Snowden, he continues to live with this legacy of being the president who started a war on whistleblowers. It’s going to be in Trump’s hands to take that prize and fight for truth. And I think it would certainly change the way the liberals and those on the left view Trump,” Stoeckly said.
Trump has yet to make a public statement on the fate of Julian Assange and whether he has any plans of pardoning the whistleblower.
via http://ift.tt/2fr95RJ Tyler Durden