For years, prosecutor Ms. Marianne Ny has refused to interview Julian Assange about the Swedish sex crime allegations against him. First, she refused to do it at the Swedish Embassy in London. And when Assange was granted asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in the UK, she refused to interview him there. Meanwhile both the British Government and a Swedish High Court have urged Ms. Ny to get her act together.
This spring there was a half-hearted Swedish attempt to move the case forward. But the request from Sweden to Ecuador about an interview was sent with very short notice – resulting in Ecuador asking for a guarantee that Mr. Assange will not be extradited from Sweden to the US (where a Grand Jury is preparing a case against him). Sweden was not prepared to grant such a guarantee (extradition cases can — at least formally — only be handled by courts, not by the government in Sweden).
But yesterday, Monday, there was a statement from the Swedish Ministry of Justice, that seems to have taken some form of control over the situation. There has been a meeting between Swedish and Ecuadorian officials in Stockholm. Ms. Cecilia Riddselius at the ministry is optimistic about an agreement. It seems that there is some sort of general agreement (not just concerning Assange) being negotiated between the two countries. Both Swedish and Ecuadorian representatives are hopeful about establishing such an agreement shortly.
Ms. Riddselius tells the Swedish national broadcaster, Sveriges Radio, that she is hopeful that Swedish prosecutors will be able to interview Julian Assange in London before the end of the year.
That’s about time. After that, hopefully the very thin case against Julian Assange will be dismissed all together — so that he can focus on the important work with Wikileaks.
The question is what will happen when this affair is dealt with. Will Assange be able to safely leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London? He is, after all, wanted in the UK for jumping bail. And what about the risk of the Brits extraditing him to the US?
Link to todays’ statement (in Swedish). »
/ HAX
Update: AFP “Sweden eyes Ecuador deal by year-end, paving way for Assange probe” »
Let’s not forget that Ny also had lot of excuses not meet while he was still in Sweden and that she also ok’ed him leaving Sweden just to issue the eaw a few days later.