Uppsala: Post the re-opening of a 2010 rape probe in May, Swedish court will now hear arguments Monday to decide if prosecutors can proceed to request Julian Assange’s extradition from the UK.
Eva-Marie Persson, Swedish deputy director of public prosecutions, filed a request to have Julian Assange arraigned in his absence with the Uppsala District Court May 20.
Detaining someone in their absence is a standard part of Swedish legal procedure if a suspect is outside the country or cannot be located.
Asssange was arrested by British authorities in April from the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he had been holed up for seven years to avoid a British extradition order to Sweden.
He was consequently condemned to 50 weeks in jail for breaching bail conditions when he took asylum in the embassy.
Swedish authorities took this opportunity to reopen a 2010 rape investigation case which was closed in 2017 because it was not possible to proceed with the probe as Assange could not be reached.
However, in 2010, when Sweden’s then director of public prosecutions Marianne Ny requested Assange’s detention from Stockholm’s district court, a detention order was issued.
Eva-Marie Persso, has made it clear that in case the Uppsala court also ends up granting the prosecutor’s request, she wouldn’t shy away from issuing an European Arrest Warrant ‘concerning surrender to Sweden’.
However, such a request will only complicate things as it has to compete with an extradition request from the United States where he is facing a total of 18 charges, most of which relate to obtaining and disseminating classified information over the publishing of military documents and diplomatic cables through the website WikiLeaks. The decision of whether to extradite him to the United States or Sweden rests with the UK interior ministry.
“In the event of a conflict between a European Arrest Warrant and a request for extradition from the US, UK authorities will decide on the order of priority. The outcome of this process is impossible to predict,” Persson said when the request to issue a detention order was made.
As of now, the hearing on US extradition request in London has been postponed with respect to Assange’s degrading health.
Chief magistrate, Emma Arbuthnot has expressed his concerns about Assange’s helth stating that the next hearing could be held at Belmarsh prison, where Assange is serving his sentence.
WikiLeaks also expresses his concerns about Assange’s health and stated that he has been moved to the prison health ward for now.
“During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight,” WikiLeaks said in a statement.
Earlier in the week Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per E Samuelson, also unsuccessfully requested the Uppsala District Court to postpone the Swedish hearing, citing difficulties he had preparing the case with his client.
The United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, said the drawn out different legal processes against Assange amounted to ‘psychological torture’.
AFP