Swedish prosecutors may reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange following the whistleblowers arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London Thursday.
The probe was launched in 2010 following a complaint from a woman and it was closed in 2017 as investigators said they could not access the Australian in the embassy.
“We will do everything we can to get the prosecutors to reopen the Swedish investigation so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and be prosecuted for rape. As long as the statute of limitations has not expired my client has hope for restitution," lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer of the Swedish woman who accused Assange of rape, told AFP.
Sweden's director of public prosecutions Marianne Ny shut down the preliminary investigation into the allegations in May 2017 arguing that Assange could not be reached due to his exile in the Ecuadorian embassy. However she did state, that were he to become available for questioning in future, prosecutors could reopen the case until 2020.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority was seemingly caught off guard by news of Assange's sudden arrest on Thursday.
"This is news to us too, so we have not been able to take a position on the information that is now available. We also do not know why he is under arrest. We are following the developments," said Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren in a statement. Isgren did not assert whether the case would definitely be reopened but stated that the statute of limitation expires in mid-August 2020.
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