Julian Assange’s arrest warrant still stands, Swedish appeals court rules

A Swedish appellate court has denied WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges bid to have his arrest warrant set aside.

On Thursday, the Svea Court of Appeal upheld a city courts decision, saying in an online statement that "Julian Assange is suspected on probable cause of crimes including rape (less serious crime) and that there is a great risk that he will evade legal proceedings or punishment."

The Australian remains wanted in Sweden for questioning relating to alleged sex offenses dating back to 2010however, Assange has not yet been formally charged with a crime. According to Assanges own September 2013 affidavit, he stated that the women he slept with specifically said they were not accusing him of rape and that police "made up the charges."

As a result of the case, Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he was granted asylum in 2012. The embassy, in turn, is constantly surrounded by London policethe city government is spending around $16,000 each day to keep an eye on Assange. He refuses to go to Sweden over fears that he will be extradited to the United States to face further potential charges relating to WikiLeaks publication of classified material.

"In the view of the Court of Appeal there is no reason to set aside the detention solely because Julian Assange is in an embassy and the detention order cannot be enforced at present for that reason," the appellate court added."When it comes to the reasons for and against detention, i.e. the assessment of proportionality that is always made when use is made of a coercive measure such as detention, the Court of Appeal considers that Julian Assanges stay at the embassy shall not count in his favour since he can himself choose to bring his stay there to an end."

However, the court also added that there was a failure of the prosecutors to examine alternative avenues is not in line with their obligation, suggesting that there may be an alternative method to questioning Assange, such as doing it at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Last month, top British officials indicated they would be amendable to such a solution.

These are matters for the [Swedish] prosecutor to decide on, but if she wished to travel here to question Mr. Assange in the embassy in London, we would do absolutely everything to facilitate that. Indeed, we would actively welcome it, Foreign Minister Hugo Swire said in the House of Commons.

Assanges Swedish attorney, Per Samuelson, told local media that Assange would appeal the decision to the Swedish Supreme Court.

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Julian Assange’s arrest warrant still stands, Swedish appeals court rules