The Swedish woman who accused Julian Assange of rape wants her case reopened — and to see the WikiLeaks founder extradited to her country to face prosecution.
A lawyer for the unidentified woman said Thursday her client was shocked when she learned that Assange had lost his political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London earlier that day and had been arrested by British police.
“It did understandably come as a shock to my client that what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened,” attorney Elisabeth Massi Fritz told The Guardian.
“We are going to do everything we possibly can to get the Swedish police investigation reopened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape. No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served. I have requested an urgent procedure [from the prosecutor to extradite Assange].”
The woman in 2010 accused Assange of raping her without a condom while she was asleep after they met at a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm.
Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden.
Swedish prosecutors questioned him there in 2016 — but ultimately dropped the investigation the following year, saying it was impossible to move the probe forward while he was holed up in another country.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority on Thursday told The Local it had only just learned of his arrest — but the case could potentially be reopened.
“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,” Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren said in a statement to the outlet.
“A preliminary investigation can be resumed as long as the suspected crime is not subject to statute of limitation. In this case, the suspected crime of rape would be subject to statute of limitation in mid-August 2020.”